


Guardian

by Ecc0craft



Series: Pharah and the Lotus AU [1]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Timeline, Blood and Gore, Cannon Divergence, Duty, Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Platonic Friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-09-23 10:41:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 39,385
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9652274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ecc0craft/pseuds/Ecc0craft
Summary: The daughter of the great Ana Amari has quite the legacy to live up to. Fareeha grew up surrounded by larger than life heroes; Overwatch, the protectors of the world. She always wanted to join the ranks and although her heroes are gone, she remains a watchful Sentinel.The life of the guardian is a lonely one until Fareeha encounters a face from her past...someone she never thought she'd see again.





	1. The Promise

**Author's Note:**

> My first fanfic. Tell me what you think. :-)
> 
> Liao is different from the one in cannon. I got inspired by a picture in the Recall short and ran with the idea. Plus the first strike comic never came out so whatever.

ERROR

Message: To Fareeha

MESSAGE NOT SENT

Fey,  
This message probably won't reach you from where I am, but I'll try my luck anyway. You and I haven't seen or spoken to each other in a long time; I know that it's my fault but I want to see you again...more than anything.

The past six years have been tough and I’m so sorry I wasn't there for you like I should have been. I'm changing that now.

When you were born, none of us knew what the future would bring. You were a brand-new life brought into a world on the edge of war. Your mother never wanted you to grow up during a war, the world that we had wasn't good enough for something so precious as you. We all came together Ana, Gabe, Jack, Reinheart, Torbjorn, and me; we made a promise, not just to fight a war but to build a better world, a better future for you to live in.

I was proud of what we created, what we fought and bled for, but everything must come to an end. As did Overwatch. The world is changing once again, we stand on the brink of a new war...and I am afraid that no one will be able to stop it.

I spent too long cowering in the shadows. The team may be gone...but I am still here and I have a promise to keep.

You will be seeing me again very soon. Love you Kiddo.

Liao

/////////////////////////////////

 

 

 

3:45 am Anubis quarantine site: Helix Security Giza, Egypt

It had been a quiet night, no incidents to report and all recently installed security measure seem to be working. Fareeha, had perched herself on the top of the building to keep watch. It was pleasantly warm out, with a slight breeze that gently tasseled loose strands of black hair from underneath her helmet. The moon cast pale light over her blue combat suit. She looked so very like a gargoyle atop the tall structure and like a gargoyle, she was there to guard what was inside.

Anubis was a god program, an AI powerful enough to corrupt and control lesser AI such as omnics and security bots. Months ago it had broken free and attempted to breach Helix's weapon arrays. Fareeha and her team had stopped it but at the cost of her captain's life. The role of team leader now fell to her and she was still getting use to her position. Captain Khalil had been her mentor, after her mother died, she had used him like an anchor. She could follow him, trust him, and he would keep her and her team safe. Now it was her job...

"Any sign of movement, Tariq?" Fareeha asked over the comms. Tariq was the tech expert on the team, having worked on the system before the breakout.

The radio crackled when the young man answered. "Everything is secure, Pharah. No life signs from Anubis, no sign of any intruders ether.”

An intruder was unlikely. Very few thieves were foolish enough to hit a Helix facility but there had been an incident a few years back at Grand Mesa so it couldn’t hurt to be careful.

“Good work, reposition team.” Fareeha ordered as she stood from her perch. Her suits wings folded out and she hovered down a level to replace Saleh. The bearded man gave her a nod before jetting across the building.

Another few hours past and the repetitive motions of checking and repositioning were lulling Fareeha into a sleepy daze. She went over her plans for the next few days, much of the same, nothing in the field. She came up with scenarios as to how she would deal with any intruder. It was all she could do to stay alert and awake.

Eventually though, she ran out of diagnostics and work-related algorithms and her thoughts turned to the past and then to nostalgia.

Thirty plus years ago the god programs almost destroyed the world with the corruption of the omnics. The 'crisis' as it was later called was long and bloody, millions were killed and the world lost a generation.

The crisis only ended thanks to the efforts of a secret organization, Overwatch. Ana Amari, Fareeha's mother was a founding member. The members of Ana’s team were basically Fareeha’s uncles.

When Fareeha was small, Gabe would carry her on his massive shoulders and she would hold out her arms like she was flying. He was very close with Ana and could always get a smile from her. Fareeha always felt that there was more between her mother and Gabe than just friendship.

Torbjorn was always trying to give out life lessons but he’d phrase them in ways probably only he understood. With such sayings as: you’re making a chicken out of a feather, don’t get caught with your beard in the letter box, and it’s better to be the hammer than the nail.

Reinhardt always told the most outlandish stories of their adventures. Jack would try and make things more realistic then Liao would hop in and make them even more ludicrous. That didn’t mean Fareeha enjoyed the stories any less.

All the young Amari ever wanted was to join them, have adventures of her own, follow in her mother's footsteps, but it was never to be.

Overwatch was gone, the Switzerland Headquarters leveled in an explosion. The public was never made fully aware of what had taken place. Some said there had been a fight between the two commanders, others said that a terrorist group had infiltrated the ranks and sabotaged the organization from within, but the truth was most likely a mix of both.

Fareeha wiped away the wetness that had formed around her eyes, she rarely thought about her mother and the way her life's work was destroyed. Lots of people where blamed, Gabe, Jack, Blackwatch, Talon, Liao was even arrested. This was after Ana was already dead but it still hurt to see the people she loved torn apart. Fareeha tried to stomp down her feelings, it wasn't the time to bring up old wounds. She had a watch of her own now and a facility to protect.

It was time for another camera sweep. She flipped through various feeds on her helmet's HUD. All was clear but it wouldn't hurt to do another walk. She turned from her new perch and was about to start when a sudden alert, from one of the new sensors, went off in the experimental weapons level.

"What?" Fareeha whispered to herself, switching to the cameras on that level.

They where experiencing some sort of static interference. The picture was barely visible. She was just able to catch the movement of a shadow before visual cut completely. At the same time the intruder alarm that had warned her also went dead.

"Oh no you don't!" Fareeha growled as she leaped over the railing and used her suit's boosters to land safely on the compromised level. She raised her rifle and jetted down the hallway. "Intruder alert! Level six, Pharah in pursuit!" she radioed to the rest of her team.

It was fortunate that Helix had installed the new security measures. The alarm at Grand Mesa was tripped too late. The thief was able to get a hold of an experimental pulse rifle and fight his way out. The son of a bitch was still at large and seemed quite happy to reek havoc with his fancy new toy. There was no way in hell that Fareeha was going to let this new thief get away.

ZWAPP!

Fareeha was stopped in mid-air as she cloths lined herself on trip wires. Electricity jolted through her and she hung in the middle of the hallway, stunned. She quickly snapped out of it, pulling down the wires and moving forward more cautiously.

Gaz jetted up beside her. “You alright?” He asked as he inspected the fallen wires.

“Those aren’t a part of the new security measures.” Fareeha whispered.

“witch means that the intruder set them up.” He answered her train of thought. Hopefully the rest of the team would catch up soon, they could be in trouble if the intruder was ready to go on the offensive.

There was the sound of a vault door opening. That was definitely not good.

Fareeha continued down the hallway to the open vault but a wall of blue energy blocked her path. A one way hard light drop shield. The thief was on the other side, probably trying to hack the storage safe. Drop shields could not easily be breached, unless you knew the trick to them. Using the butt of her rifle, Fareeha hit the shield's base as hard as she could. The shield flickered and she hit it again until the base fizzled out. She held up her rifle defensively and moved into the darkened room. The thief was crouched by the weapon safe, rapidly punching keys on his tach-pad. His back was to her, he wore a dark blue trench coat with a glowing insignia between the shoulder blades that was in the shape of a lotus flower.

"Freeze!" Fareeha ordered, "show me your hands!"

The thief didn't flinch, didn't give any sign that he thought he was in trouble. He held up his hands and began to rise to his feet. His movements were slow and deliberate like a lurking cat.

"Don't even think about trying something!" Fareeha boomed angrily. "Toss your weapons!" The weapons being a handgun and a coiled blue whip strapped to his hip. A whip was unusual, what did he use it for? Fareeha made a point to loudly cock her rifle, just in case it was used to disarm opponents.

The thief seem to get the message and didn't give her any trouble. He obeyed her command, tossing his weapons. Again, he was slow and precise with no sign that he was afraid; it was beginning to annoy Fareeha. What annoyed her more was the small chuckle that she heard from the man before her.

"Something funny?" Fareeha asked, making sure that there was a knife edge to her words.

"They grow up so fast." A smoky voice answered.

Fareeha was taken aback, not by what the thief had said but his voice. "Turn around...slowly." She said not thinking quite clearly.

The thief did as she ordered. Jet black hair, with wisps of silver, framed a pale face that was obscured by a blue, v-shaped visor. His lips twisted to the side in a cheeky grin, almost like the cat that ate the canary.

Fareeha's heart stopped...she knew that smile...she had grown up listening to that voice. Was this her mind playing tricks on her? Were those earlier thoughts of nostalgia clouding her judgment? It couldn't be...

"Nice job kiddo." said the thief. He unclip the visor from his face revealing bright amber eyes and prominent brows. "Long time no see..."

"L-Liao?" Fareeha gasped. " Uncle Li!?" She could feel her cheeks getting warm, though she hadn't decided if it was due to anger or happiness yet.

"You got tall..." Liao quipped as he looked her over. "Nice suit, love the color by the way."

Happiness, definitely happiness. Fareeha tried to hide the smile forming on her face. She couldn't find her words; she had so many questions. What was the former Overwatch chief of security doing breaking into Helix? Where had he been? Wasn't he in prison? When had she dropped her rifle? Were those tears in his eyes as she wrapped her arms around him?

"Well nice to see you too." said Liao, clearly trying to hide the hitch in his voice. He returned the hug, barely able to reach around the heavy armor. He stood on his tip-toes, trying in vain to stop Fareeha from lifting him off the ground.

"What are you doing here?" Fareeha whispered, finally able to choke out the words. Liao wheezed and she loosened her grip, realizing that she was squeezing him a little too hard.

Liao grinned up at her. "so there I was, sitting down for my morning tea, when I saw on the news that Helix had a bit of a pest control problem. Then I thought to myself, 'how can a security company have such poor security? That's embarrassing.' So I hopped on a plane to Cairo, had a chat with your lovely boss, and volunteered my services." He pointed to the new security measures, taking a slight bow. "New sensors, better cameras, and a complementary test performed by yours truly."

"You're the independent consultant that Croft hired?" Fareeha asked a bit skeptical. Liao was a fast talker and could spin a story like a spider spun a web. As a little girl, She had enjoyed Liao's stories but she also knew he was an accomplished liar and took them with a grain of salt.

Liao ignored the skepticism in Fareeha's tone, taking a more dramatic bow. "If I sold something to a client without first testing it to show them that it worked, then what kind of professional would I be?" His grin widened as Fareeha snorted in amused agreement. "I am the best thief in the business, I knew were all the cameras and sensors were and I studied your guard rounds. You still caught me in under 10 minutes. If I can't break in here… No one can. You didn't even have to use the sentry guns."

Heavy footsteps came from the doorway and the rest of Fareeha's security team rushed in. They exchanged looks of confusion when Liao greeted them with an enthusiastic round of applause. Fareeha held up a hand and ordered the team to stand down. "I'll have to confirm your story with Croft." She said, taking a pair of cuffs off her belt. "Until then, come with me."

Liao held out his wrists and Fareeha snapped the cuffs around them. Liao regarded them for a moment and made a clicking sound with his tongue. "You know Jesse taught me how to get out of these things. He ever teach you?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. A blush bent itself across Fareeha's nose as she pointed him to the exit, following behind with her hand on his shoulder. He chuckled and turned his head to look at her, a softer more paternal smile on his face. "As soon as I clear this up with the boss lady, you and I will catch up...promise."

Fareeha squeezed Liao's shoulder and exhaled happily. Liao was a liar...but a promise was a promise.

 

 [Lotus](https://eccocraft.deviantart.com/art/Lotus-748280042)


	2. What heroes are for...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fareeha and Liao catch up.

Zurich, Switzerland...Six years ago 

"You are purposely leaving out key details to fit your narrative. Like the fact that the building was on fire!" Liao growled from behind the interrogation table. He could just imagine Petras's smug face on the other side of the two-way mirror. "If you fuckers are trying to do a frame job that paints me as the villain, you could at least make an attempt at a convincing story!"

"Tell me again about your relationship with the victim." The U.N official continued. He wrinkled his nose when Liao didn't answer. " The agents that we interviewed seen to believe that you and Morrison hated each other. They also say that you where close with Commander Reyes."

"Everybody hates their boss? That's what you are going with?" Liao huffed. "You can do better... I would walk barefoot over a mile of broken glass if that man asked me to and he would do the same for me." he hissed through his teeth, scowling into the officer's face. "Jack is my closest friend, whoever said otherwise is a god damned liar."

"Jack Morrison is dead..." The official corrected. He took out a folder full of photos and laid them out on the table. 

Liao's face fell and his lips quivered. There where a few photos from the propaganda posters. Old photos, where Jack's hair was still blonde and he still made an effort to smile heroically into the camera. The rest of the photos were taken after the explosion. There was nothing left of Jack but a charred and twisted torso. It was only recognizable by the name badge on the blue trench coat that was melted to the corpse. Liao felt himself gag. All the blood in his face rushed to his toes. "Why...why are you doing this?" He muttered, bravado broken, he lifted his hands to his mouth to hide a sob.

"YOU did this."

 

 

Helix Security, Giza Egypt...Present Day

"I must say I'm impressed with your work, Lotus." Director Croft said as she adjusted herself in her chair. "...but you did manage to fool the system for a short time, forgive me if I find that concerning."

"It isn't the sensors or the cameras that keep the place safe." Liao explained. "There must always be a human element. May I say that you keep very efficient personnel, color me impressed." He flicked his glance to Fareeha, who was standing by the door, Gaz stood beside her and shot him a glare.

Croft had explained the situation...Lotus was a contractor from a mercenary guild that was hired to improve the security systems. Before then, she had him in her pocket as a tool to use on her rivals at Vishkar. Overall, Croft was very impressed with him.

She really had no idea. Lotus...Liao, was once Overwatch's chief of security, before that he fought in the Omnic crisis alongside legends like Jack Morrison. Liao never achieved legendary status, but he preferred it that way. Be invisible, be a ghost, be nonexistent; Where words that he lived by, strange words, when they came from a man so good at drawing attention to himself, but they made sense when Liao could just as easily vanish as if he was never there.

"I'm glad that captain Amari and her team impresses you." Croft continued. "Because your next assignment will have you working together."

Fareeha was surprised by the suggestion. "Sir?"

"Lotus is still under contract, I want his continued services regarding the finding and seizing of stolen Helix property." Croft explained.

"I'm on the hunt for a certain pulse rifle that the Americans lost track of." Liao added, referring to the theft at Grand Mesa.

“Sir, with respect, the Anubis site is still not safe. guarding the AI should still be our priority.” Fareeha argued. “I don’t think a single pulse rifle is as important as a god program.”

“I’m having Anubis decommissioned, the previous director saw benefits in preserving it but I do not.” Croft sighed, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose and tucking a lock of grey hair behind her ear. “Tell me Amari, are you the captain of a Helix Raptora squad or are you a glorified security guard?”

Gaz’s jaw clenched, he was going to step forward and say something that would get him in trouble.

“I understand, sir.” Fareeha said, holding up her arm to block Gaz. “I will introduce my team to Lotus.”

Croft seemed satisfied with the exchange, choosing to forgive Gaz’s temper, and addressed Liao. "Your payment has been wired to the account that you provided. Keep Amari updated at all times." She said and made a dismissive gesture from them to leave her office.

Before he left, Liao placed a small device on Croft’s desk. “Another gift from Vishkar.” He said. “An experimental hard-light projector; got it at a five finger discount.” 

"Be on your best behavior with my soldiers, thief." Croft smiled thinly as the three made their exit.

Once outside, Liao turned to Fareeha and pointed to his tach-pad. "Anything else you need to do here?"

“I have the team assembled in the hangar, right this way.” Fareeha answered, taking the lead. Liao followed while Gaz brought up the rear, watching him closely.

The other four members of the Raptora team were waiting around and chatting amongst themselves. They all lined up when they saw their Captain. 

“At ease.” Fareeha said and her men relaxed.

Tariq and Saleh exchanged confused looks when they saw Liao. R00t, the omnic, did a not so subtle body scan. Ammit, The tank, simply chugged a cup of coffee.

“This is Lotus. He will be working with us on our next assignment.” Fareeha explained.

“Wait...we’re being reassigned?” Tariq worried. “What about Anubis?”

“Croft is finally having the damn thing decommissioned.” Gaz said. “Our new objective is to hunt down stolen Helix tech.”

“Don’t know why you seem mad about it Gazim.” Saleh shrugged. “Hunting thieves sounds a hell of a lot more fun than watching a dead AI.”

"It's not so much the hunting of thieves that bother's me as much as it is working with one." Gaz grumbled.

"Like it or not, we are going to need to get along." Fareeha frowned. "We need to show we can play nice with others."

Gaz cleared his throat. "Well maybe...you can explain how you know him. You two looked like you had quite the history with that hug."

The rest of the team exchanged looks of shock. Captain Amari, Helix's resident ice queen, did not 'Hug'. Fareeha glanced to Liao to see if he wanted to explain. He was going by the Alias, Lotus, for a reason. She didn't want to blow his cover more than she already had.

Liao smiled and nodded to give her the okay.

"He's my uncle." She said plainly. "I haven't seen him in many years."

"Uncle...I see no brotherly resemblance to Ana Amari...unless he is your father's brother..." R00t buzzed. The lights on her body flashed red and yellow, showing her difficulties computing the statement.

"No blood relation." Liao chuckled. "Uncle is just an honorary title for an old friend."

"Does that mean Overwatch?" Tariq asked, a twinkle of admiration in his eye.

"...Something like that." Liao said, grimacing slightly. Fareeha cleared her throat and stepped forward.

"We have a long few weeks ahead of us, conclude your reports for the evening and get some sleep." She glanced over at Gaz who still looked skeptical. "We can all get better acquainted later." With that, the team was dismissed leaving Fareeha alone with Liao.

"Thanks, Kiddo." He said quietly. "You won't need to lie to them for me though. If they ask you outright just tell them, there shouldn't be secrets between teammates. Anyway...you all done here?"

Fareeha nodded her head. "I'm off the clock."

"Then I believe that explanations in order." Liao said warmly. "Lucky you! I just got paid so I'll treat you to breakfast."

Fareeha crossed her arms and grinned. "I know a place we can get takeout. Come on Uncle Li."

\-------------

They stopped at one of Fareeha's favorite street vendors, ordered Aish Baladi and seasoned meat, then made their way to Fareeha's apartment. She had not prepared her home for company, but luckily she didn't keep much to make a mess with. She liked living light, to be able to get up and go at the drop of a hat. Just something that Gabe had instilled in he at an early age.

"Spartans could learn a thing or two from this place." Liao commented on the empty walls of the apartment.

"Spartans lived in mud huts and slept in the dirt." Fareeha said dryly. "This is a palace."

"Still not big enough for two..." Liao said casually "I take it that there's no Mr. Fareeha Amari?"

Fareeha frowned, "I thought you knew me better. What do you think?"

"Don't know, say what you want about Helix, the do a good job at protecting the privacy of their employees." Liao shrugged. "...you did use to swear up and down that you were going to marry Jesse McCree."

"Liao! I was twelve!" Fareeha huffed. "And I think the time for awkward small talk is over."

Liao snorted and had a seat in one of the three chairs in the entire house. He opened his takeout box and started eating. There was a change to his demeanor, a tense, nervous energy that had not been there before. Fareeha also felt it within herself. An uncomfortable conversation was about to take place. Both of them knew it had too; they couldn't just go on pretending that the past six years hadn't happened. Fareeha took the armchair across from Liao and cleared her throat.

"When did you get out of prison?" She asked bluntly. If the talk had to happen then it was best to just get to it, rather than eat in awkward silence.

"Almost three years ago." Liao answered duly. "I would say that I escaped, using something outlandish like a spoon...but no. They just sorta let me go when some evidence clearing my name magically showed up." He stabbed his fork at a piece of meat. "Probably had the evidence all along, but kept me locked up until they were sure Overwatch wasn't coming back."

"Why would they do that?"

"Chain of command. A coup had killed off the major players, I was the only member of the original team still active. To some people, that made me the new boss." Liao said with a shrug. "That's not really how exchange of power works, but still."

"But you would have taken the reins if you weren't imprisoned wouldn't you?" After Lacroix was killed, when my mother..." Fareeha paused to collect her thoughts. "Morrison trusted you. He would have wanted you to take charge."

Liao shrugged wearing an uncharacteristic, gloomy frown. "I've never been a leader, I followed Gabe into the hell of the Omnic crisis, I followed Jack as he lead Overwatch into a golden age and I stayed at his side even as the ship sank around us. A leader would have acted and saved Overwatch from itself. I would have held on...more to spite those who hurt my friends than to protect the world. It 'a probably a good thing I never became Commander."

"So you're...glad you went to prison?"Fareeha gasped.

"No I'm pissed." Liao assured her. "But I gained perspective and I've since let Overwatch go." He adjusted himself in his chair and brought up a news article on his tach-pad. The article was about Fareeha, and how she had defeated the Anubis AI, just a few months prior. "There doesn't need to be an Overwatch for there to be heroes."

Fareeha felt her cheeks redeeming, praise from an Omnic crisis veteran was praise indeed. "I was just doing my job." 

"So was every member of the original strike team." Liao said with a grin. "But we were made into symbols of hope. That's what heroes are for...Hope."

"And is that what you're looking for uncle Li?" Fareeha asked. She enjoyed the praise but there was still something that Liao was holding back. She could feel it.

"I've got hope kiddo, right now I'm looking for forgiveness." Liao said as he set his box aside. "I haven't been a very supportive uncle lately."

He wasn't wrong. He had been there for Fareeha when her mother was killed, but was no where to be found when Gabe and Jack were killed. He was probably in prison during the funerals but that didn't explain where he'd been for the almost three years that he'd been out. Fareeha could have used a little family support, during that time, she had never felt more alone.

"Forgiveness for not being here when I needed you?" Fareeha began. "Were you looking for answers about Switzerland? Were you hiding out? Did you piss off the wrong people again? Is that why you've been gone?" She realized how flustered she was getting when she felt the molten heat from her flushed cheeks. She made an attempt to calm herself down by standing up and getting a glass of water.

\-----------------

It had been a long time since Liao had shared a meal with someone he cared about. In prison he ate the usual slop next to an arms smuggler named Ping, real ugly guy with a neck tattoo and a bad attitude. Greasy street food across from Fareeha Amari was an absolute treat, even if their conversation was uncomfortable.

Fareeha had a lot of questions that deserved answers. Liao didn't actually have good answers. At least she was giving him a chance to explain, which was more than the other Overwatch agents gave him. A lot of them believed the story that the U.N gave them: Commander Reyes leads revolt against Strike Commander Morrison, both killed in explosion, Security Chief Liao implicated in bombing. 

The part about the revolt was true, but Liao had nothing to do with the bombs and he was positive that nether Jack nor Gabe had planted them. The whole thing stunk of conspiracy, the kicker was that no one else thought so, or if they did they didn't get involved. When Liao first got out of prison and went to Dr. Ziegler(former head of medical)for help she turned him away angrily. Fareeha had gone and hugged him, he could trust her, she'd forgive him.

Fareeha returned to her seat with a glass of water. She had grown up a strong and resourceful woman, able to look after others as well as herself. Liao thought that she looked so much like Ana when she looked so intensely at him for an explanation. She crossed her legs and made a waving motion with her hand that demanded he speak.

"I was looking for answers, I was hiding out, and I did piss some people off." Liao said halfhearted. His lips became a thin line as he grit his teeth swallowing hard. 

He could spin a story, he could tell her all about his heroic escapades. Like fighting a corrupt system, ducking waves of faceless bad guys, standing conspicuously on random rooftops...but those would be lies. He wasn't good at lying to Fareeha, she didn't buy his bullshit.

Liao took a breath. "I need to come clean about something Fey...I've avoided you."

Fareeha was smart, she already knew what Liao must have been avoiding her but that didn't stop a small whimper from escaping her lips as his confession cut through her. Seeing her lower lip twitch with anger and hurt was enough to completely break Liao's collected facade. He scrunched up his eyes, his brows furrowed. 

"I've avoided everything that reminded me of the old days and everyone. My two best friends tried to kill each other only to have someone else blow them up. I was blamed! Dragged out into the spotlight where I never liked to be and publicly shamed!" He covered his eyes with one hand to hide the wetness around them. "I wanted to forget, pretend none of you existed in order to hide from my shame."

Fareeha swallowed quietly clearing her throat. "But...here you are." She murmured with a soft smile, she still looked upset but her eyes were warm.

"I can't forget." Liao sobbed. He wiped his eyes and returned the smile. "Overwatch is gone...I have made peace with that but it is still a part of me...you are still a part of me...and I missed you kiddo...god I missed you."

Fareeha chuckled and it caught Liao off guard. "I missed you too, uncle Li," she rose from her seat and put her arms around him. "But did you have to break into my workplace in order to see me?"

The uncontrollable tension had faded and Liao put on his trademark smirk. " My first plan was to wait for your birthday and then jump out of a cake...as I broke into Helix."

"You better not have orchestrated the break in at Grand Mesa too." Fareeha teased dryly. Liao raised a confused eyebrow. "If you did, tell that masked maniac that I want that gun back."

Liao hummed and cleared his throat. "Now that you mention it, I think we should discuss what we're going to do about him."

Fareeha nodded, "I have a few ideas on where to start."

Liao smirked, "That's my girl."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the exposition dump. There will be more in the next chapter than just talking. Promise :-p


	3. Friendly Sparing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing like a sparing match between friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be short...

Dorado, Mexico

“Where exactly did your contact agree to meet us?” Liao asked as he and Fareeha walked up the hill from the harbor. Their boat guide would stay docked there until they returned. As would R00t, who would keep an open line of communication.

“Outside Panadería Las Nieblas,” Fareeha responded. " It means..."

“The Fogs bakery,” Liao said with a shiver. "how fitting."

It was still early morning so the mists from the sea had not yet receded. It left a chill to the air and an otherworldly eeriness that hung over the Mexican town.

“Ahhh, this salty sea air reminds me of where I grew up...” Liao mused, looking out over the ocean.

"Feeling homesick already, Uncle?" Fareeha snorted. He must have told her the story of why he had left China a million times...

Liao scrunched up his nose and made a waving motion with his hand. "I think the coast is horrible, hate the fishy smell, hate that everything feels damp all the time, and hate the fog horns that never stop. There was a reason I left Hong Kong."

A million and one...

Fareeha huffed, gently punching his shoulder. “You’ll just have to deal with it. If we want information about Soldier 76 this is the place to go.”

Not much was known about the vigilante that broke into Grand Mesa, only that he had advanced combat training and could seemingly traverse the globe without being tracked. There were reports of him from London to Numbani to Beijing to Illinois but he seemed to be most active in the Americas. More specifically, here in Mexico.

He tangled with local gangs, Interrupted shipments of drugs and weapons, and overall made himself a big colorful nuisance to anyone doing something shady.

Apparently he took some issue with the energy company, LumériCo, as he had broken into several of their power plants. Strangely, nothing was taken, instead there was a fire started in one of the offices. It was easily put out but a few of the hard records were destroyed.

Croft had people in LumériCo like she had everywhere else. Friends that would keep her updated on current events; One such friend was a security specialist that worked in the company’s physics wing. The specialist went by the alias, Caballo Rojo, to protect his identity from his bosses.

Fareeha and Liao navigated through the narrow streets, past several closed market stalls and piñatas, and found themselves in front of the bakery. There were lights on inside and the fresh smell of baking bread was coming from the chimney. The owners were already awake and starting the pastries for the day. As for Caballo Rojo, he was nowhere in sight.

“Looks like we’re early.” Fareeha said. Unfortunate that the bakery wasn’t open yet, they could have gotten something to eat while they waited.

After half an hour, Fareeha’s patients was running out. She understood the contact’s need for discretion but he agreed to this meeting place and time, running late was going to hurt their working relationship.

The sun was starting to rise now and Liao was still looking out over the water from the cliff side where the bakery sat. His thoughts a long way away. He had remained mostly silent since reaching the bakery, not making any of his usual small talk so Fareeha was surprised when he nudged her to get her attention.

“What is it?” She asked. Liao didn’t say anything but pointed to an alleyway. Fareeha followed his finger, squinting her eyes. 

At first she couldn’t see anything but her eyes eventually picked out a small figure in the shadows. It seemed to watching them but once it thought it had been spotted it darted away. The sound of padding feet following it.

“We had ourselves a little spy.” Liao hummed.

“I think spy is pushing it...probably just a local curious about the two foreigners.” Fareeha said mildly. She was calm but the hairs on the back of her neck were stood up.

“Hola, are you capitán Amari?” A voice said from behind them. Fareeha and Liao turned around to see a Mexican man in a brown jacket with the hood pulled up.

Fareeha flipped out her helix badge and held it up. "Rojo?"

The man nodded his head and gestured for them to fallow. "We'll talk and walk." he said softly.

Fareeha walked beside him but Liao stayed a few feet back, scanning the rooftops. Fareeha could feel the energy he was putting out, not exactly nervous but cautious like a trained hunting dog.

"You're late." Fareeha said.

"You have not come to Derado at a good time." Rojo muttered as they turned a corner. "Our servers were hacked and my boss is running us tight."

"Hacked?" Fareeha inquired. LumeriCO's servers were among the most secure in the world, a breach was a serious issue.

"Local menace, not related to your vigilante." Rojo continued. "Point is, the higher ups are paranoid and looking for moles, that puts me in a bad spot, capitán."

"Croft will want to know about the hacks." Fareeha said curtly. It wasn't like she didn't sympathize with his situation but she knew when she was being manipulated. He was keeping something back. "Tell me the short version."

Rojo tensed, clutching both his fists as he walked. "Local trouble, local problem...someone here among the common people doesn't like the way we do business. Some of our deals were leaked." He took a breath. "It won't be long until it hits the world news."

"Tell us about the Soldier." Liao said. His sudden request making Rojo jump. "Let’s get back on topic.”

"Loner, has some kinda special forces training, carries a special gun...that he probably got from your vaults, and he knows how to use it." Rojo answered, crisply. "....And he's a gringo."

"American..." Liao paused. "You're sure?"

Rojo nodded. "If his red, white, and blue get up is anything to go by."

"Lots of countries have those colors on their flags." Fareeha pointed out as they turned another corner and stopped in a darkened ally.

“Sí, But only an American would be so flashy about it.” Rojo grumbled. He revealed a folder of papers along with a USB drive from underneath his jacket. "I got what I could for you, now I suggest you get out of Dorado. The locals around here are rallying together against anyone outside their circle. It isn't safe for foreigners...or anyone who associates with our company."

LumeriCo's popularity was even worse than Croft had said. Liao had his work cut out for him if he was going to poke around the city for a few weeks.

Overwatch Hq, Switzerland...Twenty years ago 

The on base dojo was empty, as it always was when Captain Amari and her daughter had their practice sessions. Karate was a safe and relatively normal martial art form a young girl to learn, Fareeha wouldn't immediately want to be a soldier if she was taught just a little. At least that's what Ana hoped. Fareeha had been a quick study, progressing through the lessons with ease. The girl seemed to excel at almost anything she put her mind to. Ana feared that her daughter might grow arrogant, because of this, she picked her praise carefully.

Fareeha readied her stance in front of the plank of wood in front of her. She breathing through her nose and brought her hand down on the plank in a chopping motion, splitting it in two. The movement was clean and precise.

"Good, very good." Ana said, admiring her daughter's work. Fareeha beamed for a moment. "Although, your stance is still too rigid...too brittle. Loosen up a little." The girl deflated a bit. She took the stance again, more rigid than before. Ana went to her side and placed her hands on her daughter's shoulders. Fareeha relaxed and Ana hummed in approval. "Excellent, now continue, my Faree."

"Captain Amari!" Security Chief Liao was approaching the mat, he was dressed in the official Overwatch trench coat with the logo brandished on the chest. Ana was still getting use to seeing him dressed so formally. Liao had never been someone who commanded attention but now was a different story.

"Chief." Ana greeted, with the nick name that the recruits were fond of using. "How did things go in Chicago?"

"Would have gone better if you were there." Liao replied curtly.

"No need for a sniper at a charity ball." Ana chuckled, "You and Jack didn't need me to babysit you."

"No...but," Liao cleared his throat and made a really bad impression of a gruff American accent, "no one can wear a dress quite as well as Ana Amari. Jack's words not mine."

"I'm sure." Ana said skeptically. "Where was Gabe during all this?"

Liao got a confused explanation for a moment. "He was never in Chicago. He was in Texas," he put on his smirk. "Apparently he brought back a cowboy."

"A cowboy?" Ana rolled her eyes. Yep, little Li might have a flashy uniform now but he was still the same. "Liao of all your far fetched---"

"No! he has a hat and everything!" Liao assured her.

"Liao..." Ana huffed 

"He's a Cowboy!" Liao insisted.

"Who's a cowboy?" Fareeha asked, no longer satisfied with just listening in.  
Liao shifted his attention to Fareeha, bending down so that he was eye level with her. "Jesse McCree, a new recruit that your uncle Gabe found in Texas."

"Are you lying again?" Fareeha asked as she crossed her arms.

"Wow, you too?" Liao groaned. He shook his head and changed the subject. "How's your karate going? You look like you could take on a swarm of ninjas."

"Bet I could take you in a fight." Fareeha bragged with a toothy smile.

"That sounds like a challenge." Liao smirked, cracking his knuckles.

"Oh stop." Ana grumbled. The pair of them were definitely cut from the same cloth. 

"It's just friendly sparing." Liao insisted. He was already removing his shoes, afterwards he took off his coat and tach-pad.

Fareeha got into her begging stance and made a taunting, 'come here' motion with her hand. Liao stood there motionless, a stone expression on his face. Clearly a mocking gesture but there was something Fareeha was forgotten.

"You're suppose to bow to your opponent first." Ana reminded her daughter.

Fareeha's face flushed bright red and she quickly corrected her mistake, bowing to Liao. Liao did the same and got into a defensive stance that was Kung Fu and not karate. With their positions taken on the bat, they each waited for the other to make the first move. As expected, Fareeha was the one to break, lunging for Liao, who dodged her easily. He followed up with a palm thrust that Fareeha nearly missed the block for. Liao was trying to use his superior strength and size against her, leaning into the block and pushing Fareeha back on the mat. She however was much stronger than she looked and stopped his advance by pushing back. The problem was, she was too focused on matching Liao's strength to stop his leg from sweeping under hers and knocking her to the mat.

"Point Liao." The security chief said. He waited for her to get back in her stance before they both bowed again. 

Again, Fareeha attached first. She was quicker this time, Liao had to block and couldn't just dodge. He made a jab at her side in reply but she didn't register the hit. He swiped her legs out from under her again but when she hit the mat she bounced right back up like a spring. Liao must not have planned for this and was to slow to block the two palm hit she thrust into his chest.

"Point Fareeha!" She exclaimed triumphantly 

Liao coughed and clutched his chest. Ana went over to him in alarm but he patted her away. "Good one kiddo. You really have been practicing." He said with a smile trying to hide that she had nearly knocked the wind out of him.

"Sorry...did I hurt you?" Fareeha asked sheepishly  
"No no." Liao assured her. "Aggggg...just my ego."

The air around them had become suddenly tense until the sound of a series of slow claps filled the room. All three turned to see where the claps had come from and saw the broad figure of Gabriel Reyes at the dojo entrance. There was a young man with him who, in fact, had a cowboy hat.

"That's right miha, take that ego of his down a few notches." Gabe chuckled warmly.

"Gabe!" Fareeha exclaimed. Without hesitation she ran off the training mat and leaped into his arms, squeezing him tight.

"Hey! We're not finished!" Liao called after her. He pouted and rubbed the sore spot on his chest. Fareeha hit with the force of an adult not a skinny twelve years old.

Ana gave a smile and walked over to greet the two men, though 'boy' would probably be a better word to describe the one in the cowboy hat. He was thin and lanky with messy brown hair and the sad beginnings of a mustache and sole patch. He also had tired brown eyes with tinges of red that twitched from side to side like he was nervous. He must have been in his late teens, no way he'd broken twenty yet. 

"Buenas noches." Gabe purred as Ana approached. He set Fareeha down who immediately became transfixed on the cowboy. She stared up at him seemingly unsure how to react or even to say hello. "This is Jesse McCree." Gabe said after he noticed the girl's starry expression.

McCree smiled softly and tipped his hat. "Howdy," He drawled in a thick American accent. "Captain...ma'am." No doubt Gabe had told him who he'd be meeting before entering the dojo, probably adding to the boy's nerves.

Ana nodded her head and saw Liao in the corner of her eye with a shit eating grin. "Greetings, recruit McCree." She said, giving Liao this little victory.

It was Fareeha who was next to speak. "Are you a real cowboy?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

McCree looked down at her, fidgeting for a moment deciding how to answer. "...yah." He said with a grin.

"Where are your cows?" Fareeha smirked.

A dusting of pink appeared across the cowboy's nose. "Well...uhhh, Who might you be, little lady?" He dodged the question, refusing to admit that he didn't actually have cows.

"Fareeha Amari." The girl beamed at being called a lady.

"Nice to meet ya." McCree answered, noticeably less nervous.

Ana had to wonder what the story behind this kid was. She would get it from Gabe later. He seemed to be very busy at the moment making conversation with Fareeha and McCree.  
Liao had put his coat and shoes back on and was looking like we planned on slipping away unnoticed. She gave a curt nod to him as a goodbye. He smiled in return but looked like he was still in pain. He glanced at Fareeha and then to Gabe in a knowing look. Ana's only response was to scowl and shake her head. Now was certainly not the time to open that can of worms.

 

 

Helix Security, Egypt...present day

CQC or Close Quartet Combat, was not Fareeha's strongest area of skill. She preferred to be perched up high so that she could see the layout of a given situation. Battle low to the ground made her feel very vulnerable. Even so, it was important to her to keep all her skills sharp so today she had spent her time drilling on the obstacle course.

The course had been designed with the Raptor flight suits in mind but navigating the narrow corridors in heavy armor was still difficult. Fareeha's own Raptor mark six was best used for air superiority. Paired with a rocket launcher and it was like a miniature aircraft bomber but still nimble enough to get through tight urban environments.

Fareeha shot a barrage of rockets in the last room to clear on the course then used her jet boosters to slide across the finish line. Her best time, as the monitors showed the leaderboard. She wasn't at the top by any means, the fastest agent was Lt. Gazim, but Fareeha was still in the top ten. 

She stopped by the spectator room to see if Liao was around, he had just gotten back from a recovery operation in Mexico and she hadn't had a chance to speak with him yet. Just like she thought, Liao was seated in the far left corner of the room. He was rapidly typing away at his tach-pad and apparently was having a heated conversation with someone. He was grumbling in cantonese, the few words that Fareeha picked up on were curses. She decided to wait until his call was over before speaking to him. She left the obstacle course and went to remove her armor.

When Fareeha returned, Liao's call was over but his attitude was still sour. He was moodily munching on a protein bar and still grumbling. He was wearing his visor, most likely rereading his report and going over what must have gone wrong. Back in Overwatch, a smart agent never came near him when he was like this... 

Fareeha walked over and sat down next to him.

"What happened?" She asked without ceremony. "You look like you haven't slept in days."

Liao sighed, unclipping his visor and pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked terrible, dark bags under his eyes and had the build up of stubble from at least two days. In the bright light of the spectator room the white in is dark hair had never been more noticeable.

"A contact of mine in Hong Kong has disappeared." He seemed more annoyed than angry with this part. "That, and LumeriCO was a bust. Our thief is in the wind."

"What about the leads I sent you on?"Fareeha asked.

"Your leads were solid. It's the people on my end that are unreliable." He grumbled. "I payed good money for any information on Soldier 76...and no one seems to know anything tangible. I'm working off of rumors and conspiracy theories. Some of them...they're...they're just absurd."

"Absurd how?" Fareeha asked. "You are a conspiracy theorist, how have things gotten to wired for you?"

"Vampires."Liao said flatly. He smiled a bit. "It sounds like something I'd come up with in my twenties. Not really useful to do my job. Especially when my contacts just disappear with my money." There was a pause, like he was debating on sharing his other thoughts. "My conspiracy theory now is that he dodged my investigation a little too well, my contacts suddenly don't want to talk to me about him, and he can travel from country to country without being detected."

"He's slippery, well informed...just like you." Fareeha noted.

"I'm a member of the hunter guild. I think he's one of us." Liao explained. "The press says vigilante but I say he's in someone's pocket. He goes after seemingly corrupt corporations that's why people think he's vigilante but he could also just be working for the competition."

"Who exactly do you think he's working for?" Fareeha asked.

Liao sighed, deflating into his chair. "I don't know...it's just a theory. "If I'm right, that means I have my own people working against me, if I'm wrong we're still at step one."

Over the past month Liao had been working tirelessly. He had proven himself an asset when it came to both recover missions and on information in the black market. Already he had recovered a dozen crates of ammunition that went missing in Iraq. Despite his standstill investigation with soldier 76, Croft was satisfied with his work. However, the stress and frustration, not to mention the lack of sleep, was getting to him.

"I think you need to let off some steam." Fareeha cracked her knuckles. "You up for a friendly sparing match?"

Liao's eyes lit up for a moment before he shook his head dismissing the idea. "No one should fight me right now, I'm not feeling particularly friendly."

Fareeha frowned, a bit disappointed, but another idea came to her. "Have a go through the obstacle course then." Liao loved competition so she added, "Gaz has the best time, I bet you can't beat it."

"You do realize that I'm old...right?"Liao asked with a raise of an eyebrow.

"I'm well aware." Fareeha shrugged casually.

Liao scrunched up his nose. "Maybe I won't beet the Lieutenant's time...but I will beat yours." He smirked.

"You look like you have a foot in the grave already, I like my chances." Fareeha smirked back.

Liao got up and stretched his arms."Haha, who taught you how to trash talk?"

Fareeha chuckled. "Let's get you into one of the practice suits." They were basically just the propulsion system without the armor.

"No thanks." Liao replied. "I'll be better on foot. Need to show you how it's done by land grunts like me."

"If you insist. Don't blame me when you're trapped on a ledge." Fareeha said playfully.

A few minutes later, Liao was at the starting line for the obstacle course. A small crowd had gathered in the spectator room, all of them chattering away as to what the Captain's mysterious friend was about to do. Liao must have known they were watching because he drew his pistol dramatically and cracked his whip showing off.

"As many training bots as possible." He hummed, clipping on his visor. "I've had a bad day and would like plenty of things to shoot at."

"I've got you covered in that department." Fareeha quipped. "As soon as you cross the blue line the course is live and the clock will start."

Liao did a quick equipment check, making sure his whip had charge and his over shields were up. As soon as everything was ready, he bolted over the blue line. The line turned red and a force field went up behind him. He turned the first corner, popped off the two sentry bots with a whisper quiet execution. He advanced to the first few rooms, checking corners, blowing the heads off any bots marked in red and sparing the blue ones. The next obstacle was an open corridor with swinging coulombs, as expected, Liao dodged the with little effort. For the Raptor suites it was probably the toughest part of the course. The corridor lead into an open room with two heavy gunner bots that immediately opened fire. Liao dropped his deployable light shield and unloaded his clip into the first bot from behind cover. The second bot was able to break the shield wile Liao was reloading. Liao cracked his whip neck and shot a jolt of energy through it. The bot sparked, stunned and helpless against the fury of bullets that entered its head.

"So it is used to disarm..." Fareeha though, recalling the night at the testing facility.

Liao approached the next obstacle, The one that would probably give him the most trouble. It was a wide pit that Fareeha usually just hovered over without a care in the world, but was hazardous to combatants on foot. Liao studied the distance and backed up several paces. He then ran full speed and jumped. It still wasn't enough to clear the pit but the whip came out again. He cracked it onto the grate ceiling and swung, Indiana Jones style, the rest of the way. He landed with a roll and slid underneath another obstacle before coming to the final room.

"Pace yourself old man," Fareeha hummed. "There are five gunners in the last room. FIVE, and you don't have a rocket launcher."

Liao braced himself against the door frame. He looked directly at the spectator camera, a maniac smile on his face. Yah, he was about to show off. He raised up his gun and his whip, clicked his heels together, and an electric energy surged around him. Without any further ado, le leaped inside the room, landing I the center of the bots.

"Xiàjiàng sǐ!" he shouted while in the middle of a roundhouse kick. Beams of electricity shot out from his arms and legs as he did a series of kicks and flips. The two weakest bot dropped dead within seconds and the three that remained were immobilized. Liao executed them with headshots then jogged the rest of the way, crossing the red finish line.

The line turned blue again and Liao's time was clocked in. Not quite as fast as Gazim, but an easy second. The audience of Helix agents exchanged looks of admiration and disbelief.

"Your Uncle has style." Gaz commented as the exercise highlights played on the monitors.

Fareeha smiled. "He certainly does." It was pleasing to see Gaz warming up to him. She exited the spectator room and walked over to Liao. He was wiping sweat from his brow and reaching for a water bottle.

"I'm feeling a bit better now." He panted wearing his signature smirk.

"I'm glad to hear it." Fareeha chuckled, hanging her arm around his shoulder.

Zwapp!

A shock from touching him went through her causing her hair to puff out. "Ow!" She grunted, pulling away.

"Careful, remember what happens after I do my thing...no touchy." Liao snickered. He pat down Fareeha's staticky hair and flicked her nose.

"Thanks for reminding me..." She rubbed her temples and scowled at him. Their eyes met and suddenly they burst into laughter. Fareeha remembered all the trouble that she'd get up to, using Liao's static shock. The current made him like an electric fence, and she had tricked many an agent into touching him when it was active. Being on the receiving end this time must have been karma.

They laughed until their sides hurt and would have probably continued if the base alarms hadn't gone off. All the monitors changed stations and Croft's voice came over the intercom.

"Attention Agents! We are now at Orange Alert!"

"What's the situation sir?" Fareeha asked, sliding back into her soldier mode.

"On the monitors now...there has been an attack in London."

"An assassination..." Liao corrected, his voice grave. "Tekhartha Mondatta is dead."

"The omnic monk?" Gaz exclaimed. "He's dead!?"

"Yes." Croft answered. "With the threat of omnic retaliation, Helix will be deployed in danger zones. Be ready!"  
"Yes sir!" Was the collective answer.

Fareeha noticed that Liao was paying extra attention to one of the screens. She approached him but he spun around blocking the screen from her.

"Fey..." Liao murmured like he wasn't all there. "The sniper...the one responsible..."

Fareeha pushed him aside and took a look at the footage of the assassin. The picture was blurry but a woman with long hair in a purple cat suit was clearly visible. More of note than that however, was the woman's blue skin. Fareeha balled up her fists so tight that her knuckles turned white. She began to tremble in anger. Liao put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed, making soothing circles with his thumb.

"Captain? What's wrong...who is it?" Gaz asked, moving to look at the screen.

"Widowmaker,Talon's top assassin." Liao answered, the anger in his own voice noticeable. 

"She killed my mother..." Fareeha growled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little display of Liao's abilities. On a side note I think Blizzard missed a huge opportunity to give McCree a whip and not a generic flash bang. It would have suited his character better and now we never get an Indiana McJones skin.


	4. A friend in need

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With disasters everywhere, Helix is called in to help with a relief effort in Iraq...things don't go according to plan.

Somewhere over the Middle East...Present Day 

Fareeha sat silently in the troop transport. Her team sat around her, most of them had nothing to say either. The cabin of the aircraft was filled with tension that no one was willing to break. If Croft was right and this was the start of the next omnic war, they all felt less than ready to fight it. The only thing to be done was to follow orders and hope that Croft was wrong.

"ETA two hours." Gaz announced. He had been reminding everyone the time till arrival for the past three hours, just to break the silence. He looked to Fareeha expectingly, he obviously wanted her to say something...something reassuring, but she had nothing.

The transport was on its way to Iraq to assist a relief effort. After a recent earthquake, looters had become a problem, more so now with the omnic situation. There were hired guards that needed assistance protecting the doctors and refugees but a Helix death squad seemed like overkill.

If Fareeha got her way, she would instead be in England with Liao, chasing down leads on Widowmaker but Croft determined that she was too close to the assignment. It felt almost insulting, being sent away on a routine support mission wile her mother's killer was on the loose. But the squad Captain couldn't afford to be selfish during times like these.

One positive aspect of the mission was the rumor of a certain doctor being involved in the relief. It had been several years since Fareeha had seen her friend, Angela Ziegler, and she hoped she would cross paths with her again. Angela was one of the few Overwatch agents that kept in contact with Fareeha after the fall. Secretly she hoped the doctor could be a shoulder for her. Widowmaker had stirred up so many buried emotions but now was not the time to get lost in them.

"We expect hostile activity when we arrive. Refugees are sheltered in an old sport stadium." Fareeha broke the silence. "Our objective is defense, so stay in teams of two and perch yourselves to where you have a layout of the area. Gaz, you're with me, Ammit with Saleh, Tariq go with R00t. No offense R00t but..."

"I understand, omnics are not trusted so I will keep my distance." R00t replied dryly.

"I meant about paring you with the rookie." Fareeha snickered.

Tariq groaned. "Come on captain. I've been here longer than this tin can."

"Tin can?" R00t buzzed. "Is that any way to address a lady?"

The uncomfortable silence had ended, humor lightening the mood. Gaz turned a warm eye to Fareeha, nodding in thanks. "Rest up." Fareeha ordered. "I want everyone at peak performance."

"Yes sir!" They said collectively.

With that settled, Fareeha returned to her thoughts. Before she knew it she had dozed off.

 

 

Overwatch Hq, Switzerland...Seventeen years ago 

"I have a lot of paperwork to go over Fareeha," Ana said sadly as she folded her hands on her desk. "I really wish we could spend some time together wile you are here...but this is important."

Fareeha sighed. "Isn't that what you say every time?"

"I'm sorry." Ana replied. Not a second later the phone rang and got all of her attention. Fareeha waited patiently, trying not to snoop on the conversation. When it was over, Ana turned back to her and smiled weakly. "There is something you can do for me."

"What is it?" Fareeha asked. It felt good being useful. Helping out around Overwatch, would make an impression, and she could join faster.

"Angela is laid up at the moment. An accident on the training range. If you can go check in with her, it would help me out." Ana explained.

"I'm on it...why was she even on the practice range?" Fareeha asked halfway out the door and suddenly curious.

Ana grimaced, "better let her explain that."

"Alright..." Before leaving Fareeha went over and kissed her mother on the cheek.

\---------------------

"What happened to you?!" Fareeha asked crossing her arms over her chest. Angela had her right leg in a boot, her left arm in a sling and stitches dotted across her temple. Her hair was also cut short...and her muscles seemed more toned. For someone usually so prim and proper, the look was jarring.

"Well..." the blonde began. "The proportion system for my designs need a little more work." She groaned. "I couldn't lock onto my subject and ended up falling...but I'm fine, with my nanotechnology I will be completely healed in a day or two."

"Not just your injuries Ang, what about everything else?" Fareeha pointed at her friend's hair.

"Oh...zat," Angela murmured. "Well since you were last here, I applied to become a field agent."

Fareeha bit her tongue to stifle a laugh. "You? Why? You hate the militaristic side of Overwatch."

"I have a point to prove!" Angela insisted.

"What point? That you can pull off a pixie cut?" Fareeha clapped her hands. "Hair looks great, no need to go and get yourself hurt."

Angela sighed softly. "Torbjorn rejected my design for the Valkyrie suit after Commander Morrison said it would be of no use in the field." She shook her head. "I know my suit has the potential to save lives, I know that the Commander is wrong...but no one wants to hear it coming from me. They say I am naive and have no perspective on battle, so I decided to go and get some perspective."

"Angela, you're a pacifist." Fareeha said, very concerned. "Becoming an agent...you know what will be expected of you." Angela's parents were killed by friendly fire during the omnic crisis, since then she had been anti-war and anti-violence, joining the military side of Overwatch was out of character.

"I know..."Angela murmured, shifting on her boot. "This was a thought out decision. I won't be an assault agent, I will be support. Even with my aversion to violence, I can't ignore the opportunity to protect the lives of our agents."

"You're really serious about this, aren't you."Fareeha sighed. She looked at her friend's beat up figure and shook her head. The doctor was stubborn, and no one could stop her from doing something she wanted to do. She was willing to do anything if it meant protecting the innocent. Fareeha had always looked up to her for that. "At least tell me that you're learning how to shoot." She said playfully.

"Ja, I have a teacher." Angela smiled. "Jesse gave me a few pointers--"

"Oh..." Fareeha couldn't help but feel a tinge of jealousy. Jesse was hardly ever around when she was visiting.

Angela must have seen the envy so she added, "Oh and Commander Morrison has also been surprisingly helpful--"

"Oh really?" Fareeha smirked, forgetting her jealousy for the chance to tease Angela. "What with?"

Angela's cheeks turned pink. "Shooting...of course." A frown creased her forehead. "...you've been gossiping with chief Liao I see."

"No." Fareeha snickered. Though it did sound like something he would make up. "I'm glad you and uncle Jack are putting your differences aside for the greater good."

"He still thinks that I'll quit." Angela huffed.

"Just have to prove him wrong then." Fareeha hummed, still half teasing.

 

 

Somewhere in Iraq...Present Day 

Angela did prove Morrison wrong...sort of. He had been right about the initial design for the Valkyrie suit. He had been right to think that Angela didn't belong on a battlefield, but Angela never quit and eventually became a valued field medic, and the public face for Overwatch's Conscience.

The doctor was an agent till the end of Overwatch, but Fareeha was never allowed within their ranks. Especially not after the death of her mother. Ana had always wanted a different life for her...and Morrison wasn't about to disrespect his captain's wishes.

Fareeha sometimes thought, if she had been in Switzerland at the end...or if she had been able to fight alongside her mother...could she have done something?

"Captain? Are you awake?" Gaz asked, nudging Fareeha.

She opened her eyes an nodded her head. "Yah." She stretched her arms. "Something wrong?"

"I have intercepted troublesome radio transmissions." R00t said. "Marauders have stormed the spot stadium that the refugees are held up in."

Fareeha got up from her seat. "Get me a line to whoever is in charge at the camp."

"As you command." R00t replied. Her light sensors began to flash different colors until a signal came through her.

"This is Captain Pharah, representing Helix," Fareeha greeted. "What's the situation down there?"

"Captain Hill, DWB." A man introduced himself. "Twenty plus hostiles in the old stadium. They are armed with shotguns and assault rifles. They've been turning the place upside down with their looting."

"What is the status of the refugees?" Fareeha asked.

"We got almost all the refugees out but some couldn't run fast enough and got trapped inside...one of the doctor ran in after them. Doubt any of them are still alive." Hill replied somberly.

A doctor ran into a firefight? Fareeha's heart sputtered in her chest. "The doctor that ran in. Who was it!?"

Silence.

"Ziegler...The famous one from---"

That was all she needed to hear. "Team we are changing our focus from defense to attack and rescue." Fareeha ordered. "R00t I want you fishing for more radio signals, fifteenth people need comms to keep in touch. I want to know what they are saying to each other, hang behind and watch our backs. Saleh and Ammit will take point, Gaz will flank, Tariq and I will bring up the rear...Understood?"

"Understood." They replied.

"Be aware of potential hostages. They are our top priority." Fareeha said, putting on her helmet."move out!"

The transport doors lowered, cold wind whisked around the team. "Within stadium drop zone captain!" The pilot shouted. With that confirmed, Ammit and Saleh engaged their boosters and cleared, Fareeha and the others following close behind.

They landed more or less gracefully on the roof of the station. R00t, as ordered, hung back and shot sonic rounds in different levels of the structure. The targets lit up in red on the team's HUDs. It also didn't take R00t long to find the radio frequency that the marauders were using to communicate. Now they could see and hear everything. They were all separated into small groups of two or three, except for a group of five that was gathered by the announcer box. The trouble was that four of them were lying on the ground rather rocking back and forth or completely motionless.

"The bitch looked herself in!" The standing man said.

"Break down the door then." Another answered over the comms.

"Can't. She got hold of my rifle! Fucking whore shot Akmid and his team." The first man growled.

That sounded like Angela's handiwork and Fareeha took a small sigh of relief. Dr. Ziegler was cornered but still alive. However, that relief was soon replaced by anger when Fareeha looked down at the soccer field. A tangled mass of bloodied limbs and torsos, all riddled with bullet holes, were piled near the center.There were red streaks on the grass from where they had been dragged, most of them were in civilian attire. Fareeha felt her stomach drop.

"The refugees..." Tariq gassed. "We're too late."

"We're not too late to save Ziegler." Fareeha grunted, biting back her rage. "We need to get to her before they do."

"With the hostages dead. We will be eliminating the looters, yes?" R00t buzzed, a hint of malice in those synthesized tones.

"Affirmative, eliminate all hostiles." Fareeha confirmed without hesitation.

The team broke off into search and destroy mode. It wasn't hard since R00t had provided the sonic markers. Fareeha charged a group of three, knocking one off into the bleachers. She bashed another in the face, his skull implored where her first hit. The last one got a few rounds off but Fareeha's armor was strong enough to take the hit. She reterned fire with her rocket launcher, reducing the looter to a cloud of red mist.

"Three targets eliminated." She announced. "Moving to extract Ziegler."

There was the hum of acknowledgement from the rest of the team who were making quick work of the marauders. Thugs could gun down refugees like fish in a barrel but they were no match for a Helix kill squad. Tariq jetted down to join Fareeha and they advanced together.

\----------------

Near the announcer box, the angry man on the radio was still yelling through the locked door at Angela. He was kicking and ramming the door with his body. A few of the men that Angela had wounded had pulled themselves together and stood guard by the hallway.

"Come out and fight!" He snarled, "Not so tough now!"

"Back away or I'll shoot!" Angela threatened. 

"Nobody you've shot so far is dead princess!" He mocked. "Maybe you're just a bad shot!"

"You don't think I have it in me!?" Angela growled. "You have no idea who you're dealing with!"

"We know you're the pretty angel on all those Overwatch posters. Color me not impressed."

"Then you know who trained me." Angela hissed and there was a sudden hush over the men. "Jack Morrison..." his name slithered out, like a curse through her teeth. She tightened her grip on the rifle. Anger and venom in her words. "I am not a violent person, I've dedicated my life to saving lives...but you have killed so many innocents today that I won't shed a tear about ending you. Now step away from that door or I swear on Jack's grave, I'll blow your head off!"

The threat worked, judging by the uneasy muttering that came from the other side of the door. Thought that may have been because gunfire had broken out on the other side of the stadium. Angela turned to look out on the field to see what was going on and saw a group of people wearing Raptor suits, jetting around.

"Helix!" Angela thought. A wave of relief washing over her.

\-----------------

Fareeha shot a concussive blast into the hallway, knocking back the five marauders. "Clearing the area!" She announced to Tariq who took out the men with his rifle before they had a chance to recover.

"Targets down." Tariq said, but the loud ringleader was getting back up. Fareeha stopped that by planting a boot in his head.

"Dr Ziegler?" Fareeha asked, knocking at the door. "We're with Helix intensional, it's safer to come out."

The door's lock disengaged and it opened slowly, the barrel of a gun poking out first. Angela popped her head out and let out a relieved breath, lowering her rifle. "Thank god you came when you did." 

"Are you hurt?" Fareeha asked. Angela looked fine, only some superficial cuts and bruises but Fareeha wasn't about to take chances with her friend.

"I'm fine." Angela answered. She looked around at the bodies, made a face in disgust, before disappearing back into her hiding place.

"Running in here was reckless!" Fareeha called behind her. It annoyed her that Angela seemed unfazed by the danger she put herself in. "You could have gotten yourself, not to mention my team, killed!"

Angela reemerged from the booth, her rifle slung over her shoulder, and she was carrying a small girl. The child clung to Angela sobbing into her shoulder. She was covered by Angela's white lab coat to shield her from the carnage but she must have already seen enough.

"This girl is alive when she would have been dead, for me it was worth the risk." The doctor reasoned. "If she isn't worth the risk for you then you are in the wrong line of work."

There was the scolding. There was no point in arguing about reckless behavior now that Angela had her moral halo on. "You really haven't changed a bit." Fareeha sighed

Angela's eyes widened suddenly with recognition. "Wait...Fareeha?" 

Fareeha tipped up the visor on her helmet and gave a friendly smile. "Let's get you two out of here."

Angela held the girl a bit tighter and gave an enthusiastic nod. She was safe, This mission was definitely worthwhile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Liao will return in the next chapter.
> 
> Thought I would do some head cannons
> 
> -Liao grew up in a fish market in Hong Kong
> 
> -Fareeha is stronger and faster than a normal woman, no one knows why.(but we all have a good guess it has something to do with her parentage.)
> 
> -Before Croft worked for Helix, she was an archeologist.
> 
> -Angela is as precise with her gun as she is with a scalpel 
> 
> -R00t can juggle 
> 
> -Tariq and Saleh try and find reasons for Fareeha to buy them dinner
> 
> -Ammit has a crocodile motif 
> 
> -Gazim is originally from England


	5. Déjà vu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liao looks into Mondatta's assassination and finds out something about Overwatch.

The sky is red, columns of smoke shoot higher and higher. He lays face up staring up into the crimson. It begins to rain, globs of sticky blood paint his body. There is fire all around but it is impossibly cold.The smell of death fills his nostrils the cries of the damned weave through the heavy air. Among the moans He hears his name called in the familiar voices of his friends. This must be hell...

Ana's voice is distant, more screams than words. Her screams are joined by the pleas of those lost in the war. Voices that he can't remember who they belong too.

Gabe's deep voice is close and angry. "Should have known not to trust you...always knew you would take his side." It says with a hiss.

"We're all on the same side Gabe!" He answers.

"You're a fool if you still believe that."

"I had to protect the family Gabe! Even if it meant protecting it from you!"

"You failed." A strange voice growls. Breathy and disembodied like a phantom.

He drags himself upright to see what has spoken. Gabe stands before him, he is burned almost beyond recognition, crisp flakes of skin pealing from his body. Gabe isn't looking at him, instead he stares into the distance where Ana's cries were.

"...I'm sorry Gabe...I'm so sorry." He sobs in despair. Suddenly he feels someone's eyes on him. He turns painfully to see who is watching him. "Jack..."

A stoic face with cold blue eyes stares back at him. There is no expression but in the eyes.The gaze is mournful, boring into him like daggers. Jack's mouth doesn't move, he says nothing but holds out an arm to help him to his feet.

"Jack I..." He begins, not wanting to take the hand. Jack doesn't move, standing stiff as a statue, still offering the hand. With a sob he takes the hand, it is cold as stone and immediately starts rotting away in his grasp. Jack's eyes are gone, empty pits where they use to be but the gaze somehow remains. Still falling apart, the soldier still pulls him to his feet. "Stop! You're killing yourself!" Jack lets go of his hand and backs away.

Suddenly a pair of claws grab the back of his neck and begins to squeeze. He tries to call out to Jack for help but the soldier turns to ash in front of him. He's being strangled. He can't breathe.

\------------

Liao sat up in the transport seat. He was breathing hard, gagging and sweating heavily. The overhead lights flickered and the pilot buzzed the comm.

"My Instruments are going crazy up here, is something going on?" The pilot asked.

"...probably just radio interference, nothing to worry about." Liao shrugged dishonestly.

"We'll be in London in about twenty minutes. Hope you're ready."

Liao rubbed his head and yawned. "I feel like I can take one the world." He lied.

 

 

London, England...Present Day 

King's Row had always been a crowded area but this crowd was pushing the streets to the limits. People and Omnic alike were elbow to elbow, gathered by the scene of the assassination. Most were mumbling or sobbing, or in the case of the Omnics, they had their optical sensors dimmed and made a collective buzzing noise.

Liao kept his distance. He wasn't interested in how sad everyone else was but he still felt the need to play his respects. He owed Mondatta that much. After the Omnic Crisis, Liao had been wary of the Shimbali Monk. He and Gabe had even come up with a plan to take out Mondatta themselves if he ever became a threat. However, the monk proved that his intentions were indeed peaceful, and earned Liao's admiration.

To Liao, pacifism was a dirty word, inaction but with the smug touch of self righteousness. If one had the strength to act it was their duty to do so. Some however, like the Omnic Monk made it work. He didn't need to agree with Mondatta's teachings in order to respect him. The monk was a pioneer in human-Omnic relations, a pioneer for peace...some believed he was the only thing between the two and war. Liao hoped that they were wrong.

A few hours past and Liao ended up at a pub. It was the middle of the day so he thought that it wouldn't be busy. He needed to get away from people, he could feel them draining his energy. Just like he hoped, there were only a few other patrons. He took one of the corner benches and began tinkering with his tach-pad.

Liao got the strange feeling of déjà vu. He had been to this particular pub many times and it seemingly hadn't changed. Same colors, same booze, same creaky wooden benches. The original team was briefly stationed nearby, back before they were called Overwatch. He and Gabe would come down looking for some action, ladies loved to hear a good war story. Most of the time though, the two of them got too shitfaced to do anything. Liao would go off on nonsensical rants in Cantonese and Gabe would sit and listen like it was some eastern philosophy that he couldn't understand. Jack followed them down sometimes...that went well.

\----

Message 

Gabe - Li...did you get the plate number on the thing that hit me last night? (groan) my head...

Me - Well it was American made, kinda sporty, with a shiny blue paint job and yellow racing stripes.

Gabe - Oh shit! Where is Jack now? I need to apologize.

Me - Oh yah, and a hot redhead got in and drove off.

Gabe - ...that's enough with the car metaphor pandejo. -_-

Me - Fine, lets go find Jack and the Ginger.

\-----

If Gabriel Reyes had a character flaw it would be: that under the influence of a copious amount of alcohol...he had a big mouth, a short fuse, and no respect for a person's personal space. Jack hadn't liked something Gabe had said to one of the girls, Gabe got mad and got in his face, and then Jack punched his lights out. The owner got quite a kick out of little Liao trying to drag an unconscious pile of muscle named 'Gabby' out of his establishment. He pointed and cackled the whole time.

"Any thin' for ya mate?" A cockney voice asked, knocking Liao out of his reminiscing. Talk about déjà vu, it was the same owner.

Liao tried to hide his shocked expression. What had it been? Thirty years? Old cackler must have been in his seventies by now.

"Whatever's on tap." Liao answered, vaguely paranoid that the owner would recognize him. To his relief the owner didn't, he just poured him his drink and went back to work. With that distraction aside, Liao sipped from the mug of beer and turned his attention back to his tach-pad.

The local information brokers that he had contacted all confirmed that Talon had a foothold in London. The terrorist organization was advancing the tension between the citizens and the Omnics for months now. The growing aggression was the reason Mondatta came here to speak in the first place. He wanted to ease the tension, prevent bloodshed...now he was dead. Liao couldn't help but think that Talon had been causing trouble just to lure Mondatta away from the safety of his Nepal sanctuary. They were a crafty bunch, they had helped destroy Overwatch from the inside after all.

They found themselves a perfect linchpin in Amélie Lacroix. She was the wife of captain Gérard Lacroix, rumored pick for the next Strike Commander once Jack retired. Like Jack, he was strong and swift and brace, but with Gabe's charms and fine edged personality. He was a natural leader with the potential to lead Overwatch into a second golden age, but all of that ended when Talon took Amélie. They tortured her, brainwashed her, and turned her to their will. A few nights after Gérard thought he had rescued her, she took his pistol, put it to his head, and shot him in his sleep.

No one knew it at the time, but Overwatch's future died with him and that this was the beginning of the end. Amélie returned to Talon and they turned her into a ruthless killing machine, given the fitting name of Widowmaker. She was an artist with a sniper rifle, quick and deadly like a spider. On one fateful mission, Ana and Jack where rescuing hostages when she attached. Ana stayed behind to protect the team, and the snipers had a duel.

Liao hadn't been there when it happened, but Jack told him that Ana's last word over the comms had been a shocked 'Amélie!' before the line went dead. With hostile forces swarming the area there was no way to recover Ana's body but the sick bastards made sure Overwatch knew what they had done, displaying Ana's signature beret on a spike as a taunt. Gabe had to be sedated and physically restrained to stop him from going after Talon and getting himself killed too.

Gabe blamed Jack for what happened, and the two of them got into a straight up brawl on the day of the funeral. They had always fought like an old married couple, but this was completely different. The two of them managed to destroy several cars and wreck the garden area at the Hq. The press sure had a field day with that one. It was up to Reinheart to break them up, since he was the only one sturdy enough to get between them without the threat of death.

That was the day Overwatch lost Gabe, after that he stopped following orders, he became paranoid that his friends were turning against him. A kind of madness gripped his mind and, in the end, Talon got to him too. Then the Blackwatch commander blew Jack to bloody, smoldering pieces and brought the Overwatch headquarters down on himself, putting an end to his sad story.

Liao refused to believe that his friend would join Talon willingly. They must have done the same thing to him as the did to Widowmaker. They had to...Gabe would never help the people who killed the woman he loved...he wouldn't. At least that's what Liao told himself every day he spent in prison for what Gabe did.

Liao finished up his mug of beer, and set some credits on the counter. He had finally found what he was looking for, the home address of an old friend. He didn't quite trust the information brokers after the run around he had gotten with the soldier 76 investigation so he found an alternative source to get info on the assassination. The friend in question had even tried to stop it.

Lena "Tracer" Oxton was a former Overwatch agent. On the night of the assassination, she chased Widowmaker across several rooftops in an attempt to subdue the sniper. She had been interrogated by police afterward, trying to explain that she was just trying to help and that it wasn't Overwatch activity. Since the U.N. outlawed any such activities with the Petras Act.

In the stolen interrogation video that he had watched, Liao could see that the young brunette was in tears probably beating herself up for failing to save Mondatta. He could relate to that, but the video didn't go into the fight itself or where Widowmaker went, so Liao needed to go to Oxton and talk to her himself.

The address that Liao had found was an apartment in the nicer part of town. The part of town home to young professionals, artists, and athletes. Oxton was a bit of a gymnast so it made sense.

Liao went up to the door but before knocking, he tied his shaggy hair behind his head in a small bob. Best to look professional when representing Helix. He knocked and got into a rigid soldier stance. No knowing how Oxton would react to seeing him, so he wanted to play up his law enforcement angle.

And wouldn't you know, more déjà vu. An attractive red haired woman opened the door. "Hello? Can I help you sir?" She asked.

Liao put on his most charming smile. "Are you Mrs. Oxton?" Had Tracer the flighty spaz of an agent finally found someone to settle down with?

"Yes, Emily Oxton-Price," she said with a smile. "But I think you might be looking for my wife, Lena."

"I am." Liao nodded.

"Oh! Is this about Overwatch?" Emily asked, still smiling.

Liao's blood went cold. No, this wasn't about Overwatch...why would she think that? He didn't have time to wonder, he caught a stream of blue light out of the corner of his eye before his face was slammed against the doorframe and a gun was put to his head.

"Hiya chief!" said a chipper voice. "Break outta prison did we?" Tracer was always so sweet, even when she was threatening someone.

"Uggg, no."Liao answered, his smile turned to smirk. "Got released on good behavior, you'd be surprised what the warden was willing to do for a back rub."

"Liar!" Tracer yipped.

"Lena! What are you doing!?" Emily exclaimed.

"Get back inside love, I've got this under control." Tracer told her wife. "Whatcha doin' here Liao? Talon coming after my family now, is that it?"

"Not Talon, I work for Helix!" Liao barked back a little insulted.

"Oh bugga! He's a cop L!" Emily covered her face in horror.

"If you work for Helix, I'm queen Victoria!" Tracer hissed

"Badge is on my belt, your majesty." Liao quipped. Croft had given him one, just to avoid another incident like the one with Fareeha.

Tracer flipped up the tail if Liao's trench coat and reached out and grabbed the badge. She looked it over a long minute before backing away lowering her gun. "Lotus, so that's what you're calling yourself now."

"It works for me." Liao shrugged pinching his nose to make sure it wasn't broken. "I was sent to ask you about what happened at Mondatta's assassination."

"Helix can talk to the police, I already gave my statement to them." Tracer deflected.

"All they seemed to be interested in was weather or not you were acting as an Overwatch agent." Liao tapped on his tach-pad. "Your lovely wife here also seemed to think I was here about Overwatch."

Tracer shifted from one foot to the other and Emily gave her an apologetic look.

"What's going on Lena?" Liao grunted, crossing his arms. His tone was concerned, like a worried parent.

Tracer slumped her shoulders a bit, starting at the ground and then into Liao's eyes. "You WERE released?"

"Yes, charges were cleared."

"Does that mean that I can trust you?"

That was a loaded question. "If it's about Overwatch." Liao answered carefully.

Tracer took a deep breath. "Come inside then...I'm watching you."

"Tell me what's going on." Liao demanded

"Winston will get you up to speed." Tracer deflected, leading him into the apartment and pointing him to a chair witch he declined.

It was a nice apartment. Comfortable looking furniture was in every room and there was an excellent view of the neighborhood. There were also paintings and photos on the walls. Fareeha's place could benefit from a painting or two, maybe a nice landscape done in oil pastels.

Tracer fidgeted with her old Overwatch communicator. She had it linked up with the television and tried to get a signal to wherever Winston was. Liao was surprised that the ape was a part of all this. He had always been introverted, more comfortable with science experiments rather than people. From what Liao could gather though, Winston was the ringleader behind whatever was going on.

"Finally!" Tracer exclaimed. The signal went through and a furry face appeared on the tv screen.

"Lena, what is it? Is something wrong?" The gorilla inquired, pushing up a pair of glasses.

"Winston...Have you put on weight?" The question slipped out before Liao could stop himself. Not a good time for his mouth to move faster than his head.

"Chief Liao!" Winston cried. "You're alive! This is wonderful!"

Well that wasn't what Liao had expected after Tracer's greeting. He grinned, it was actually nice to see the big guy. When Overwatch disbanded Winston, being a Gorilla, had no place to go. Liao had worried about him wile in prison. If the ID was correct, then the ape was hanging out at Watchpoint Gebralter, a cozy base in the Caribbean.

"Nǐ hǎo," Liao attempted at a better greeting. "It's nice to see that you're still around too."

"Athena informed me of your release, but then you simply disappeared...there were a few rumors of a suicide and I feared the worst." Winston said, noticeably relieved.

"Wait you knew?!" Tracer yipped.

"It wasn't exactly reported on Lena." Liao explained. "U.N. doesn't exactly like to admit when they've fucked up. Now I want to know what the hell is going on with you two and what Overwatch has to do with it."

Winston scratched his chin. "You don't have our old frequency active, do you."

The Overwatch frequency, a means in which agents that were not currently active could be contacted.

"No, I don't have it active. Why would I?" Liao asked, becoming impatient.

"Activate it!" Tracer commanded, but before Liao could touch his tach-pad Tracer had swiped it away and was punching in the code for him.

The screen went black and then the Overwatch logo flashed in white and gold. Large words came up next, 'RECALL INITIATED' they read. Liao's mouth dropped open and he looked rapidly at the three other people.

"What? Who initiated the recall?!" Liao asked.

"I did." Winston declared.

Silence and the atmosphere completely changed. Emily's hair began to stick up and static began to mess with the picture on the Tv. Emily gassed in horror as an uncomfortable feeling washed over the room. Tracer grabbed her wife's hand and started leading her out.

"Come love, I think we better let them talk alone." She said.

Once the women had left, Winston took a deep breath and spoke again. "You disapprove?"

"Why would you do this?! Overwatch is gone! Jack is gone! Gabe and Ana are gone! Everything has been buried, and you're just digging it up! Why?!" Liao pleaded angrily.

"Have you looked around lately, chief?" Winston snorted. "Have you see the state of the world? Someone has to do something!"

"Do something?" Liao growled. "You've been watching the world burn from the safety of Gibraltar wile I've spent time in the fray trying to put out the fire!" The lights began to flicker and the static on the Tv got worse.

Winston held up his hand in a calming gesture. "You sound like a man who could use help with that." He said sincerely.

The static stopped, Liao shrunk into himself. He didn't have a response. What the gorilla was doing made sense, someone had to do something, but Liao couldn't except what Winston wanted to do. Bringing back Overwatch meant defining the Petras act, which normally Liao would be in favor for, but he had just gotten over his grieving for his family and didn't want the healed wounds reopened.

"Winston...please." Liao managed to croak out. He was really having a hard time keeping his emotions in check. Maybe that beer wasn't such a good idea.

"You should join us, we could really use you watching our backs." Winston suggested warmly.

Of course his first answer would have been yes. Of course he wanted to go back and be a hero again, but what he wanted didn't matter. He already had a job, a legitimate one with Helix, he had Fareeha...Fareeha! what would she do when she found out about this?

"I can't." Liao murmured. "I want to...but I have other responsibilities now, I can't just leave."

Winston smiled softly. "Duty first..." he hummed, a bit disappointed. "Just know, that you are always welcome...Gibraltar's doors are always open."

Liao snorted smirking slightly. "That's a security hazard Winston." He joked looking down at the symbol on his tach-pad. "I can still help you as a third party and if you need advice, you can call."

Winston nodded and the call ended. Tracer was leaned up against the counter a concerned smile on her face.

"You ok?" She asked sweetly. "All of it's a bit much to take in."

"This isn't going to end well." Liao sighed.

"When did you become so pessimistic? You were always the crazy one who could find something positive no matter what." Tracer pouted.

"I..." Liao tried to find his words. "I'm concerned. Who's going to lead the new team? Winston? You?"

Tracer shrugged. "Hadn't really thought of that...but we'll figure it out. Maybe it'll be someone new...the world could always use more heroes." There was a slight melancholy to her words.

"How about you, are you okay?" Liao asked, putting his hands in his pockets. He had gotten caught up in a mystery and forgot why he came in the first place.

Tracer was quiet but rocked back and forth. It was a nervous habit that she had. "It was Amélie you know." She muttered. "She looked me straight in the eyes after she'd done it, and laughed."

"It's NOT Amélie...not anyone." Liao shook his head as the light flickered. He really needed to get a grip. Or some sleep. Or both.

"I'm sorry..." Tracer wimped.

Liao bit his lip, upsetting the woman was the last thing he wanted. "No, I'm the one that needs to keep his anger in check...I'm sor--"

"It's not that." She continued. "I thought you were one of them...like her. I attached you! I almost..."

"It's okay Lena." Liao moved to the counter and nudged her with his elbow. "You were protecting your wife...That and I've been told that I have a face for punching." 

Tracer flinched for a moment before relaxing. "I can tell you everything that happened during the assassination."

"Take your time." Liao hummed. "Tell me your story."

He needed to hear Tracer's unedited account, his patience was returning, but he really needed to get in contact with Fareeha. Overwatch was coming back and he feared what that might mean for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Head Cannons
> 
> -Liao practices Wing Chun Kung Fu 
> 
> -Fareeha had engineer schooling in Canada 
> 
> -Ana always had her beret, always. She hated that she couldn't take it to parties.
> 
> -Gabe liked having a well laid plan, he loved it when a plan came together 
> 
> -Jack was the fastest member of the original strike team.
> 
> -Lena and Emily got married in Paris 
> 
> -Winston's been watching over several former agents like Tracer and Reinheart


	6. Recall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angela is in danger and Fareeha is determined to protect her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not my best chapter, but I had a lot going on at work and couldn't get much writing done. Here it is anyway.

Refugee Camp B, Iraq...Present day 

With the marauders taken care of, the DWB squad was sent in to clean up wile Fareeha's Helix team guarded the secondary camp. The team was spread out in groups of two as was the original plan. The threat of danger was still high so Fareeha hadn't gotten a chance to talk with Angela; she was relieved when the DWB sent another squad to relieve hers.

The courses were all payed out on the sidelines. Tarps were covering most of them. A short, grey haired man with a bushy mustache stood over an uncovered body and waved them over.

"Captain." The man greeted. "I'm Hill, we spoke earlier."

Fareeha gave a grunt and a nod in reply. She just wanted him to get to the point.

Hill cleared his throat and continued. "Some of these men are Scorpios, a local militia."

Fareeha wasn't surprised that Hill had found something. The men who had cornered Angela were much too coordinated for simple looters. What Fareeha had not expected was the local militia. They were all citizens that protected other citizens...why would they kill their own people for seemingly no reason? "Are you certain?" Fareeha asked.

"You see these tattoos?" Hill grunted as he pointed to the colorful ink. It was a simple design of a scorpion coiling its tail. "The group that we replaced when we got here. seems they changed sides."

"I patched up a few Scorpio members the other day...they seemed like decent people..." Angela said sadly. 

"According to your Omnic, they had specific orders to obtain Dr. Ziegler and her equipment." Hill continued. "Orders from who is anyone's guess."

Angela didn't react to the information, she didn't seem surprised. She did avoid eye contact with everyone, witch to Fareeha was a red flag that said the doctor had a good idea as to who was after her...but didn't want to bring it up for some reason. Fareeha nudged Angela with her elbow, raising a eyebrow when the doctor jumped and met her gaze. 

"Not here." Angela whispered almost inaudibly. "Meet me in my tent in an hour, I'll explain then."

\-----------------

An hour later, after Fareeha and her team had debriefed she found Angela in her tent. The doctor was still awake, letting the little girl that she saved have her sleeping cot. The girl was curled up in the blanket making quiet cooing sounds as Angela hummed a lullaby. She actually had an angelic singing voice but she only sang for special occasions and for special people.

Fareeha cleared her throat to announce her entry and Angela greeted her with a quiet smile.

"How is she?" Fareeha asked, her voice just above a whisper.

"Exhausted, she cried herself to sleep." Angela murmured. "Her parents were not among the dead...so there is still hope that they're out there."

"I'm sorry we couldn't get there in time to save the others." Fareeha said glumly.

"I didn't think anyone was coming at all." Angela sighed. "Thank you for that. I probably wouldn't have been able to hold them off for much longer."

"I saw your handy work, no kill shots." Fareeha observed. Angela was a trained shooter but never tried to kill anyone unless the situation was dire. 

"I wasn't there to kill, I was there to rescue..." Angela took a deep breath. "I would have done what was needed."

"I believe you Angela." Fareeha said warmly. "I wasn't trying to..."

"I know...I...thank you." Angela murmured. She was shaking and trying to hide it. During the action she had nerves of steel, when it was over she had a nervous tremor. "It's nice to finally see you again, Fareeha." 

She changed the subject, Fareeha felt that it was better not to press the issue. She had wanted to vent about Widowmaker and the assassination in London before, but given that Angela could still be in danger It seemed 

"I heard about what happened in London." Angela sighed, seemingly reading Fareeha's mind. "Widow is still on the loose...is Helix doing anything about it?"

"My boss has a man on the trail." Fareeha assured. "Though I'm not getting my hopes up for a capture or anything." Liao was good but it had already been two days and the trail was cold. It wasn't like Angela to be secretive but Fareeha got the impression that the doctor was trying to avoid the topic of her safety.

Angela fidgeted with her finger nails as if debating going further into the topic.

"Something has you on edge, Ang." Fareeha stated bluntly. "You know who ordered the militia to attack, don't you?"

Angela nodded. "Talon has been making threats to me for a long time." She folded her hands in her lap, looking down at her knees. "Now they've made good on those threats."

"If Talon is behind this, then we need to get you to a safe house." Fareeha insisted.

"And then what?" Angela grumbled. "Am I just suppose to sit in some old house when there are people who need my help? I think not."

"Angela..." Fareeha sighed. "You aren't the only one in danger." She motioned to the sleeping child. Talon was ruthless, they had told the Scorpios to kill the refugees; more would die if another attack was made on Angela. 

The doctor realized this and put her head in her hands. "Where do I go?" Angela asked sadly.

Fareeha cleared her throat. "I don't know long term, but Helix can protect you for the time being." The Swiss authorities could probably do a fine job looking after Angela, but Fareeha preferred to keep her close. Talon was at it again and she would personally see that they didn't take anyone else that she loved away from her.

Angela swallowed weakly. "So once the other DWB reinforcements arrive?"

"You will accompany me back to Helix's operation in Egypt." Fareeha answered and Angela nodded in agreement. She still wasn't pleased with the situation however.

There was a silence that lasted a uncomfortable few minutes before Fareeha's communicator went off. She looked down to check the contact ID. 

Message From: Lotus

-We need to talk. Call me as soon as convenient.-

Maybe Liao had found something. Fareeha excused herself from Angela's tent and stood outside to make the call. The signal was horrible, with a lot of static interference. 

"Damn." Fareeha hissed, loud enough for Angela to peek out curiously.

"Comms here are always choppy. I have a satellite uplink that you can use in another tent." Angela offered. "Who is it? Your man in London?"

"Yes...Thanks." Fareeha responded. Angela probably wanted to hear any information on the London matter but it wasn't the best idea to have her and Liao interact. The two of them had never seen eye to eye. Fareeha decided that they would just have to deal, this wasn't the time for old rivalries. 

Using the satellite uplink, Fareeha put the call through. "Listen Angela..." she said clearing her throat. "Don't freak out." The doctor gave an inquisitive look but before she could say anything, Liao's face appeared on screen.

"Captain Amari," Liao said warmly. "I found a contact in London that...Dr. Ziegler..." 

"You!?" Angela growled.

Just like old times. As soon as they looked eyes, the daggers started flying.

"We can exchange dirty looks later. Tell me what you found, Lotus." Fareeha commanded.

Liao's eye twitched, but he did as ordered. "As you wish. I have a lead on Widowmaker. She is no longer in England, but sources say that Talon has a hide away somewhere in king's row. If I can find it then it might lead me to our assassin."

"Good. You should make finding that hideout top priority." Fareeha replied.

"That isn't the only reason we need to talk ki--Captain." Liao said, a bit cryptically.

"What's wrong?" Fareeha asked. 

Liao glanced from side to side. "This WAS only for you to hear...but Ziegler here already knows, doesn't she."

"Knows what!?" Angela snapped, not liking his tone. Liao would always start passive aggressive fights with her, beginning with accusations.

"So you don't know?" Liao turned quickly, taking all his attention off the doctor. "The recall. Fareeha, Overwatch has been initiated again."

"Oh mein got..." Angela murmured. She flipped over to the Overwatch frequency on her hand held and the choppy recall message appeared.

"What!? Did I miss something?" Fareeha said, confused. "Did the Petras act gets revoked in the past 48 hours?" She had many questions: Who even had the authority to recall Overwatch anyway? Could there be an Overwatch without any of the original members?

"No...but Overwatch's old enemies have been making bolder movements lately." Said Liao.

"Let me guess," Fareeha said knowingly."Talon?"

"Afraid so...Winston was attached at one of the old watchpoints." Liao explained.

"Is he alright!?" Both women asked in unison.

"He's fine, he was able to fight them off but decided to initiate the recall once he discovered what they were after." Liao continued. "Athena has kept tabs on the ex agents over the years, she has a list of their locations and known aliases, that is what Talon wanted."

"They already know where Angela is, there was an attack here and she was the target." Fareeha grunted. "But they chose to act through a militia group called the Scorpios."

Liao rubbed his chin. "You're sure it was Talon?"

Angela crossed her arms. "Who else would it be? I don't have a lot of enemies...unlike some people." She muttered the last part under her breath.

"Three major operations, two of them thwarted, in the past two days? That seems a bit much, even for Talon." Liao mused. "The Scorpios, by the way, are not a militia group. They are a six man squad of hunters. They are a part of the same guild as me."

"Talon still could have hired them." Fareeha suggested.

Liao shook his head. "Not likely, Talon and the hunter guild are enemies. Someone else is after Dr. Ziegler." He pressed several buttons on his tach-pad, logging into the guild server and looking up the bounty. "Oooo someone with deep pockets, Ten mill."

"No matter who it is, Helix will keep her safe." With the recall, perhaps the doctor could go to Overwatch for protection, but the illegal nature of it brought its own danger. Fareeha was still trying to proses the whole thing, so much was going on all at once. Nothing was by coincidence either, it seemed to be a domino effect, one event leading to another.

Liao nodded, his hand returning to his chin. He was feeling torn in different directions as well. He was more concerned with the criminal underworld and Fareeha could only guess how the mess looked from his perspective. "I'll have a program do some fishing on the matter. I don't like the way the guild has been interfering lately."

"Thanks..." Fareeha really was grateful for Liao's help. Technically, investigating London and finding people who are after Angela, was not his job. He did it anyway. Even so, Fareeha had a nagging fear all of a sudden. Would Liao leave now that the recall was active? She had to know, maybe that is what he meant when he said they needed to talk.

"What else do you plan on getting up to?" Angela asked Liao, trying her best to be civil.

Liao opened his mouth, no doubt to make a quippy response but Fareeha spoke first.

"Ang...could you give us a minute?" Fareeha asked, her voice uncharacteristically distant. Angela was ready to protest but felt the anxiety around her friend so she quietly left the tent. As soon as they were alone, Fareeha spoke again. "Where do you stand on the recall, Liao? Are you going to respond?"

"No." Liao replied promptly. A relieved sign escaped Fareeha before she even realized that she was holding her breath. "I work for you kiddo, I'm not going anywhere." HIs voice was soothing, and he himself, sounded relieved at her reaction. 

"I'm glad." Fareeha said softly. She didn't want to get weepy again with Liao so she moved back to the subject of Widowmaker and Talon. "Find Talon's hideout in London, rattle their cages, but don't do anything reckless." Fareeha ordered.

"Understood." Liao replied. "I'll keep you updated on what I dig up."

"Be careful." Fareeha insisted. It wasn't really necessary, Liao knew what he was doing but he could be impulsive. Fareeha had distinct memories of her mother telling him the same thing. 

Liao huffed, crossing his heart. "I will." He chuckled. "See you back in Egypt."

The call ended and all was quiet once again. Angela took that as an invitation to come back in. "You're working together then?" She asked, disapproval lacing her words.

"I'm his handler at Helix." Fareeha replied. "Don't worry Ang, we can trust him."

Angela huffed, shook her head but then took Fareeha's hand in hers. "I know you two were close...but the people who are closest to Liao end up dead."

Fareeha jerked her hand away. "He didn't KILL Jack, Angela."

"He might not have pulled the trigger, Fey, but he kept information from the commander that could have saved his life." Angela said harshly. Fareeha felt her brows begin to crease. "Surprised he didn't tell you? Well Liao is a liar! Always has been always will be. I hope you keep that in mind, it might just keep you alive."

 

 

London, England...Four hours Later 

Well she had said to rattle some cages but who would have thought that Talon's London operatives were so on point. Liao had spent a a few hours on the streets, asking questions, looking into possible hiding places and now there was an entire team of of them on his tail. The response was too quick in fact, witch meant that one of the info brokers must have sold him out as soon as he arrived.

He had tried to loose the squad by going to the rooftops but a few of them were as athletically inclined as he was...and probably a decade or two younger. At this point he was tired and cornered near one of the roughest neighborhoods. A place where no one would think much of a little a little gunfire. Trouble was, none of the operatives had shot at him yet. That could only mean that they wanted him alive for some reason.

"Good evening!" Liao greeted from behind his drop shield. "How is everyone?" 

He didn't seriously think that he could talk his way out of this one, he was just trying to distract them until Tracer arrived. He had sent a distress signal to her a half hour before. See she had offered to with him, back him up in case he needed it and he, like an idiot, had said no. She would have a cheeky remark to make about it later, he was sure.

"Come on out, we've got you. Just give up quietly." Said a tall, husky man with a tacky skull-face painted on his helmet. 

He was probably the captain, everyone else had basic gear. He didn't make an effort to sound menacing, in fact he mimicked the same casual tone that Liao had used, which in contrast with his mask, was pretty menacing.

"Not going to happen!" Liao said defensively. "I don't do well in captivity."

"Don't make us kill you, old man." Skull-face said. "We have a few questions for you."

"Ask away! I'm staying behind the shield." Liao said, hoping the captain would go for it and buy him more time.

Nope. Skull-face motioned for two of his men to start destroying the barrier and made sure the other ones had their guns trained on Liao. "Who are you and who do you work for?" He said at the same time. He was a multi-tasker...great.

"Name's Wong, I was hired by Vishkar to scout out the Omnic neighborhood after the assassination. But they aren't paying me enough to deal with the likes of you. You want me to fuck off? Fine, I'm gone. Just say the word."

"Now why would Vishkar need you? They don't usually resort to hiring outside help." Skull-face asked skeptically. His men began to pound on the shield, not in the most effective way.

Liao watched the barrier's health bar being slowly chipped away. "I didn't ask those kind of questions, but I'll guess the lady that contacted me doesn't want her fellow architects to know that she's interested in this area. Internal conflict, back stabbing, that sort of thing."

The other man made a nodding motion he was buying this little story. "Well I can see loyalty means nothing to you bounty hunters."

"Was that scolding? It almost sounds like loyalty means something to you." Liao quipped. He took note of his shield's dwindling health bar. "We don't have to make this a fight, we can go our separate ways."

"What if we want to send your boss a message?" Skull-face sneered.

"I'm afraid that the gruesome message that you have in mind will only bring more attention to your little Terror group. That seems to be something that you're trying to avoid." Liao spoke quickly. The bar was in the red and Tracer had not arrived.

"It's a rough neighborhood...that is all that people will say." Skull-face said coldly.

"Hey, I can still be useful to you--"

"You'd stab us in the back first chance you got. We won't be needing your help."

Well there was the end of that. Before the last of the barrier was destroyed Liao made sure his whip and pistol were ready. "I won't make this easy for you." He said calmly.

Seconds later the shield was down and a hail of gunfire erupted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Head Cannons
> 
> -Fareeha is 6' tall but always wears clothes and shoes that make her look taller 
> 
> -Liao is 5' 7" . . . and shrinking
> 
> -Tracer doesn't age, her Cronal Accelator has her stuck at 26
> 
> -Emily doesn't mind 
> 
> -Angela can sing in three languages: German, English and French
> 
> -Liao and Angela often had arguments about her becoming a field agent 
> 
> -Strangely, Jack and his safety was often at the center of these arguments


	7. Hunters vs Talon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Talon didn't know who they were messing with.

Bullets ricocheted off the wall behind him as Liao darted to the side. He tackled one of the Talon operatives that had destroyed his shield and used him as a replacement. The other operatives turned him into a pin-cushion before the skull-faced captain ordered a cease fire. Liao used the break in the gunfire to cap off another operative, shooting out the orange eye lenses to their helmet.

The other shield destroyer lunged at Liao from the side and fired his rifle. Liao's over shields took the damage until he rolled and jumped from the rooftop. He cracked his whip and hooked it into one of the ledges to catch himself before he hit the ground.

"He's on the ground! Move in and light him up!" Liao heard the captain yell from above. The hideout must have been close, they all seemed to have found a new determination to stop him. That, or they were pissed about the two men they lost.

There were four men left for Liao to contend with. If he wanted a chance at beating them, he would have to separate them and confuse their coordination. He heard the approaching sound of heavy boots coming down the alley wile others moved along the roof. By jumping down, Liao had sacrificed the high ground but at least he would have more cover in the tight alleyways.

He darted around a corner and detached the trip nodes off his belt. He stuck one on each side of the path at chest level. He activated the wire with his tach-pad, it was nearly invisible in the dark. That was unfortunate for the gunman who came tearing around the bend and ran into it at full speed. He was stopped dead in his tracks giving Liao the opening to finish him off.

Three to go. But as Liao noted this a second man, the skull faced captain, came around the corner, though he was more cautious and fired his side arm. If Liao had been a couple inches taller, the bullet might have struck him between the eyes. It instead whizzed through his hair, nearly kissing the top of his scalp. Liao returned fire but the agent's armor took it without harm to the wearer.

The captain was tall and broad, almost large enough to be the tank of the group. As the bullets from Liao's pistol bounced off his armor, the large man advanced, firing at the older man again. Liao's overshilds were knocked out as he retreated around another bend. There was no time to set down another trip wire.

Up above, Liao became aware of a commotion. Men were yelling and shooting but not at him, it sounded like more than just the two agents left on the roof. It would seem, a second team had been called in after his escape. Despite the probability of six more agents after him, Liao was more concerned with their attention on someone else. The last thing he wanted were civilian casualties...it was blood on his hands.

BOOM!

An explosion on the rooftops made Liao's heart stop. Orange flames expanded outward sending two of the agents into buildings and two others to the streets below.

"Bombs away!" The familiar voice of Tracer exclaimed. Well she was finally here that counted for something but using a pulse bomb was reckless. Liao would chew her out later—

BANG!

Liao was distracted by the explosion and left himself exposed. A sharp pain shot through his thigh and he fell to his knee.

Smoke rose from skull-face's side arm. There was a strange deafening silence as time stood still. Liao expected to be shot again but it didn't soften the pain when he was, in the abdomen this time. Fortunately the trench coat had more armor than the leg. It still knocked him to the ground in a daze of pain.

As he laid there face down he felt a boot press into his back and push him harder into the ground. There were four Talon agents left, and at least one of them had their gun at his back. Liao tensed in fear when a hand grabbed a fistful of his hair craning his knock backwards.

"Those were some of my best men you son of a bitch!" Skull-face snarled. 

"I said I wouldn't make it easy." Liao remarked. Even in the face of death he couldn't stop himself from making quips. Ana once told him that it was his defense mechanism, trouble was it did little along the lines of protection and insisted often encouraged the opposite. This time was no different, earning him a kick in the ribs...though it was preferable to being shot again.

Forcing himself to remain calm Liao worked on focusing his energy to the spot where the boot was planted between his shoulder blades. Unknown to his attacker, he had one last trick up his sleeve, and it packed quite a punch. He was almost ready, he just needed a few seconds.

And then, like a miracle, loud footsteps came up behind and the skull-faced captain was tackled off of Liao. The attention off of him, he expanded his chi in a surge of energy. It was most effective when channeled into martial arts, but it worked as a simple knock back. It wasn't something he liked doing but if there was a time and place for intimidation, this was it.

The neighborhood was blacked out. The only light on the surrounding rooftops now came from him. Every one of his features was sharpened in his unnatural glow. Blue bolts of energy danced around his body, his greying black hair moved with the static, spiraling outward. There were the collective popping sounds of all the electronics that were fried in the area and the distinctive smell of electricity.

Three Talon agents rounded the bend but stood back in awe, one let out a gasp of recognition. "It...It's you..." he sputtered. He wasn't talking about 'Lotus'. Another former Blackwatch flunky, one of Gabe's boys. This struck a nerve and Liao's display became more intense, more violent.

"Yah...It's me all right!" Liao bellowed, the static distorting his voice. He lunged forward and one man took off in the other direction wile lightning engulfed the other two. The former Blackwatch agent didn't look back, instead disappearing into a back alley. "Yah you better run." Liao snarled in pain and anger.

He didn't bother with a pursuit not with a bullet in his leg. This entire night had just blown up in his face. Talon would be moving hideouts now that they knew who was after them. He couldn't worry about that until later though, right now he needed to figure out what to do with all the dead bodies.  
Tracer was nowhere to be found. Liao hoped that she hadn't gotten caught in his blast. Then he remembered the captain. There was no way that Lena Oxton, 100 pounds soaking wet, could have tackled the large man off of him. Someone else had come to the rescue...but by now they, and the captain were probably long gone.

Or not.

The neighborhood lights were slowly coming back on and just barely visible on the other side of the alley, stood the silhouette of a man holding a massive rifle. A red line glowed across where his eyes would have been. Liao had to blink twice to make sure his mind wasn't playing tricks on him. It almost looked like...

The man darted across the street and up a fire escape."Hey! Wait!" Liao shouted, wincing in pain as his legs protested his movement.

"Chief?!" Tracer called from the rooftops above. In three flashes of blue light she was on the ground and fussing over Liao's wounds. "I saw the power go out. Are you alright?!" You're bleeding!"

"Did you see that man go up that fire escape!?" Liao asked, not registering her question.

"Never mind that!" Tracer scolded. "We need to get you out of here!" She teleported underneath his arm so he could lean on her. The device on her chest burned intensely, drinking in the energy that still pulsed from his body.

"Careful..." Liao warned. "We don't need another slipstream accident."

"Haha! let's get you to a hospital."

"Hell no." Liao grunted, stopping in defiance. "I am not going to explain this to— *aggghhh* I need to see where that man went!"

"Oh rubbish, you need a doctor!" Tracer yipped, scrunching up her nose and making a valiant attempt to drag him forward.

"Yah, the time traveling one maybe...Then I can go back to this morning and figure out witch one of my contacts burned me." Liao quipped.

He was actually pretty sure of who had tipped Talon off. What he was really distracted by was his savior on the roof. He'd have to deal with both matters later though. Tracer was right, he did need proper medical attention.

Liao swiped a few windows on his tach-pad, thankfully it hadn't been completely fried, and brought up his hunter profile. He typed in a few keys and several other profiles popped up, all with metic, cross symbols. The closest one was only five blocks away, located at a veterinary clinic. He pressed the green alert button on screen, then showed the address to Tracer.

"There, that's where the doctor is." He said as me leaned against her. Blood loss as well as the surge of energy were taking a toll.

Tracer looked skeptical of the plan but nodded in acknowledgment. "Alright, hang in there..."

\---------------------

 

Outside the vet clinic there was a man and woman waiting. As soon as they saw Tracer and Liao, they ushered them in. There was a back room with a fold out metal table that they had Liao lay down on. 

"What do we have?" Asked the woman in an Indian accent.

"Gunshot, left thigh. Bullet is still in there." Liao replied shakily through gritted teeth.

The man immediately got Liao's boots off and used a pair of scissors to cut away the pants fabric around the wound. The woman opened a cabinet and got a surgical kit, then went to work removing the bullet.

"You're lucky, it isn't in there too deep. Your bone isn't hit." The man remarked, in the same accent as the woman. He held down Liao's leg wile the woman fished the metal out. 

Throughout the entire ordeal, Tracer had hung back wondering who the hell these people were and how Liao knew them. Unfortunately it seemed like she'd have to wait for answers. After the bullet was removed, Liao was completely drained of energy and now lay unconscious. Tracer didn't know exactly how his powers worked, some cross between electromagnetic energy and chi, but she did know that releasing energy all at once without a proper channel was not good for him. She must have looked worried because the male doctor made an effort to comfort her.

"He will be okay, miss." He said warmly as took out a nano shot and injected it into Liao's damaged thigh. "He just needs to rest."

"Thanks." Tracer replied. There was a pause. "So who are you? underground doctors or something?"

The man was about to answer when the woman interrupted. "No offense, but you're one of us, we don't exactly open up to outsiders and we certainly don't answer their questions."

"Hey! I was just askin' no need to be so rude!" Tracer yipped, not knowing what she had done to deserve the response.

"You must forgive my sister." The man said swiftly. "She is over cautious at times."

"With our clientele, I'm just the right amount of cautious." The woman huffed.

The man rolled his eyes. "You know who this is! Lena Oxton from Overwatch, not someone we need be afraid of." He said before turning to Tracer. "You can call me Nier and her Rin. We are support class members of the hunter guild."

"When hunters are not bleeding out on our doorstep, we are veterinarians." Rin added. "Obviously."

"Sounds exiting!" Tracer grinned broadly. "I love animals." 

Despite herself, Rin smiled back shyly. "Well...yah...doesn't everyone?"

"See Rin, that is how you converse with company." Nier chuckled.

The next three and a half hours were spent talking about the vet business, the animals they cared for and what big fans the siblings were of Tracer and her adventures. She didn't mind a little hero worship. She thrived on it in fact. Eventually Rin was relaxed enough to talk more about the hunters guild, and what her and Nier's role in it was.

"Basically, we're on call." Rin explained. "If a hunter in the area needs medical help then they can alert us to make a request."

"I need healing!" Tracer giggled. Back in the day, she and Genji would scream the phrase to Angela. Sometimes just in the safety of the base to get on her nerves.

Rin didn't understand the personal joke and smiled awkwardly. "Sort of..."

The lights flickered eerily and everything was silent. Tracer looked over to the foldout couch that they had moved Liao to and saw that he was stirring from sleep. She blinked over to his side and gently tapped his shoulder. He muttered something that she couldn't understand, but it sounded like English not Cantonese.

"Chief...It's Tracer...Lena" Tracer whispered. "You okay?"

Glossy amber eyes fluttered open as Liao regained consciousness. He sat up slowly his old joints popping from lying so rigidly. "How long was I out?" He yawned.

"Almost four hours." Rin replied. "Can I get you anything?"

"Ummm, water...please." Liao said. "I need to find a sweeper, I left a few bodies back there..."

"I already contacted one, Lotus." Nier explained. "He's already on top of it."

"Thanks, Nier." Liao sighed.

"Sweeper?" Tracer asked. Though she had a feeling that she already knew.

"Someone who cleans up a hunter's mess." Liao answered. Rin brought him his water and he gulped it down eagerly. "How much do I owe you?"

"The regular fee as well as the sweeper's fee." Rin said. "Sorry but this guy was expensive."

"Don't worry. I've got it." Liao said as he felt around for his tach-pad. He found it and immediately started swiping and typing.

"How the hell is that thing not toast?" Nier remarked.

"The beauty of Vishkar technology." Liao replied without looking up. The device was lighting up with notification messages. "There are alerts going off all over. Something big is going on–"

Nier cut in. "Well I was browsing the guild chat rooms and saw that someone shot up a warehouse by the docks. Lots of suspected Talon activity down there."

Liao nodded his head. "The docks, I had my suspicions that they had a hideout down there." He paused, running a hand through his hair. "Who attacked the warehouse? Was it another hunter?"

"The others seem to think so." Rin answered. "I have the profile here." She typed a few keys on her computer and sent the link.

Here it was, the answer to one important question. Liao's lips curled up into his smirk. A symbol for an Attack specialist was at the top. A list of skills followed, all suggesting at that hyper-lethality of the hunter. Most important was the profile name, bold in red over a blue background was the number, 76.

"And so the ghost appears..." Liao said, getting to his feet and addressing Tracer. "Let's go and see what he was up to."

"Friend of yours?" Tracer asked.

Liao regarded the question, thinking back to his frustration and disappointment in Mexico, How his own people were working against him, how he had nearly been killed a few hours ago. Then he thought to his savior in the alley...

"You know...it's really hard to say." Liao chuckled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fareeha will return in the next chapter.
> 
> Head Cannons 
> 
> Liao and Genji once had a duel. Everyone places bets on who would win but they never found out. Jack called off the fight when Liao killed the power and Genji sent a dragon into his office.
> 
> The Hunters Guild has many classes and sub-classes, a few of note are:  
> -Attack  
> -Defense  
> -Tank  
> -Support  
> -Sweeper/clean up  
> -Transporter  
> -Assassin  
> (Liao is Defense)


	8. Pharah and the Angel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look back at better times...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lighter chapter:-)  
> Some shipping to:  
> McPharah  
> Ana/Gabe  
> Mercy76  
> Pharmacy if you stand on your head and squint ;-)  
> And others...

Overwatch Hq, Switzerland...ten years ago 

Fareeha walked briskly through the massive hallways of the base. It had been over a year since she last saw the place and it looked like there were extensive renovations going on. She just hoped everything was still in the same place. She was already running late to meet up with Angela for drinks and the last thing she wanted was to get lost. Her basic training for the Egyptian military was now complete and she was looking forward to a night of celebrating with her best friend.

Coming up on her mother's office, she spied Jesse waiting outside the entrance. He was pressing an ear to the door, very distracted by what must be good on. Fareeha smirked, seizing the opportunity to surprise him.

"It's High Noon!" She declared as she playfully jabbed him in the side. She wasn't prepared for him to spin around so quickly and tackle her.

"You tryin' to give me a heart attack?" The cowboy exclaimed.

"Ow...maybe?" Fareeha quipped from beneath him trying to hide her blush. "What's so interesting in there?" She motioned with her eyes to the door.

Jesse stood up and extended a hand to Fareeha. "Mommy and daddy are fightin'." He answered, clearly a bit embarrassed that he had been caught snooping. "An upcoming mission has ol' Gabe on edge."

"I see, so I'm guessing my mother isn't available to talk at the moment?" She grinned.

Jesse's eyes widened and flicked to the door. "Nah, not at the moment...err...when did you get back?" He asked, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yesterday. Angela and I are going out tonight to celebrate." Fareeha said happily. "You should come with us." She added before she could stop herself.

"Oh, thanks...but I've got a mission, maybe next time." He explained. "Have fun anyway."

Oh well, at least she tried. Fareeha brushed off the disappointment. "Sure Jesse, more for me then. I get Angela all to myself." It was a common joke around the base that everyone was in love with the pretty blonde doctor. Fareeha found it hellacious.

"Now listen ya little scoundrel," Jesse drawled in a cartoonish, fatherly tone. "You best have her back before ten, ya hear?" He waved a gloved finger at her, grinning widely.

Grinning back, Fareeha crossed her heart. "I'll be a complete gentleman."

"Yeah you better." Jesse chuckled, patting his holster. "Ya know I'm quick."

"Oh really?"

"Yep." He replied, squeezing his eyes shut and smugly throwing his head back.

In an act of pure impulse, Fareeha lunged forward and planted a close lipped kiss on the side of his mouth before skipping away in the opposite direction. She was quiet happy that the cowboy had turned such a lovely shade of red. "Not quick enough!" She teased as she skipped.

Jesse just stood there dumbly as Gabe picked this moment to emerge from Ana's office. "Alright we need to head out before—the fuck, what's wrong with your face McCree?" He said, tucking in his shirt and makeing a hand motion in Jesse's direction.

"Nothin'!" Jesse exclaimed defensively, moving his hat down to try and hide his face. "Where we going?"

"Brazil." Ana's voice called for inside the office. "Make sure and chew your quinine pills, Jesse. Malaria is a problem down there."

"Brazil?!" Jesse complained.

"Yes, I got bribed into doing the captain a favor." Gape replied.

Jesse frowned, crossing his arms and scrunching his shoulders. "You're weak." He mumbled.

"Aaaah" Gabe grunted as he wrapped a large arm around the younger man's shoulders. "I'm not the one blushing like a girl, who's the lucky—"

"Let's just go!"

As Fareeha skipped into Angela's office, she found she was interrupting another meeting. 

"It's bad for the Commander's health!" Angela scolded to a very tired looking Liao.

"So is taking a gun shy idealist into battle with him, but I can't stop him from doing that ether!" Liao retorted bitterly.

"Wow, what has uncle Jack done to piss both you two off...at each other?" Fareeha asked, crossing her arms and leaning on the doorframe. She was pleased to see their angry expressions change to ones of surprise.

"Fey!" Angela exclaimed as she ran over to embrace her friend.

Liao raised an eyebrow and looked down at his tach-pad. "How the hell did you get in here without me knowing? I'm supposed to be alerted every time a guest pass leaves the visitors' center."

"I am a master of infiltration, uncle Li." Fareeha joked, giving him a light punch in the arm. "Or the magnetic strip on this one is worn out. Who's to say?"

Liao rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Well I will have to talk to those workmen, they probably pulled out some wires when they opened up the walls...anyway...how've you been kiddo? I noticed those guns of yours."

Fareeha smiled, flexing her toned biceps. "Busy with basic. Ang and I are going out to celebrate."

"Good idea." Liao said. He pointed a thumb at Angela. "You and I can continue our conversation later."

"Don't try and blow me off again, Liao." Angela warned.

"You know where to find me." The security chief shrugged as he left the office. "Have fun you two."

Angela scowled at him but Fareeha looped her arm around her friend's and pulled her away. "Come on! We're already running late." Fareeha said as she draped her head on Angela's shoulder. Angela sighed, not protesting when she was lead out.

\-----------------------

"You didn't!" Angela exclaimed, nearly spitting out the fruity cocktail that she had been drinking.

"I did...on the lips." Fareeha grinned, blushing a little. "He looked like a tomato!"

"Poor Jesse...you shouldn't tease him like zat. When your mother finds out..."

"She won't do anything, besides I'm a woman now, she can't ground me." Fareeha said as she played with her straw.

"Oh look. Captain Amari! Nice to see you!" Angela shouted at the restaurant entrance. Fareeha flinched and turned her head only to see that her mother wasn't there. Angela giggled. "Zat is what I would say if she walked in." She slurped her drink with a smirk.

"Very funny." Fareeha grumbled, biting her lip. Maybe it as time to move on to the next conversation. "So, what was today's argument with Liao about?"

Eyebrows furrowing, Angela swallowed her drink. "Well..." she scoffed. This outta be good. "Not only does he have no respect for my morals, he also has no respect for my position as chief medical officer,"

Fareeha motioned her hand. "Go on..."

"or even as a doctor!" Angela grumbled. "I have proven myself time and time again. He's being a dummkopf!"

"Sorry...but what is THIS fight about?"

Shrugging, Angela took another sip of her drink. "Just dealing with complications with injuries caused in a mission in Germany. Our security chief thinks it's his business to interfere with my patients." She said it in a dismissive tone that signaled the end of the topic.

That was disappointing, Fareeha felt like something important was being kept from her, but she moved on. 

"I remember reading about Germany, when you saved that small town. Apparently people were calling you 'The Angel of Mercy'." Fareeha said encouragingly.

"Ja, 'Mercy' is my call sign." Angela hummed. 

"Well I like it." Fareeha said. "It suits you much more than just 'Angel' or 'Valkyrie'."

"When you join Overwatch, you'll need to have a call sign." Angela giggled. "Maybe, Raven."

"Raven? You see me as a black bird?"

"I meant because of your hair."Angela explained. She was starting to get a little tipsy. "Or something like 'Mechaqueen' or 'Thunderbird'...you're still planning on becoming a pilot, right?"

Fareeha laughed. "Not for a plane. I'm going into jet-trooper training."

"Those names still work..." Angela pouted.

"Sure, if I EVER join Overwatch. My mother is not a fan of the idea." Fareeha huffed.

"Don't worry," Angela pat Fareeha's shoulder. "i'm sure she'll come around. You know she really is proud of you."

"There's a first time for everything I guess..." Fareeha mumbled, slurping at her straw.

Angela hummed thoughtfully. "You can always talk to Jack about joining."

It was Fareeha's turn to almost choke on her drink. "Since when are you two on a first name basis?!"

Angela looked like she was about to backpedal on her statement, but didn't. "Since the mission in Germany." She said like a confession.

"Is that so?" Fareeha giggled, wiggling her eyebrows up and down. Angela had grown a fancy to the commander in the past few years and Fareeha loved to tease her about it.

"No! Nothing like that..." Angela insisted. "We just...sort of...bonded over the..."

"You know he's not an easy person to get close to...There is a WALL there." Fareeha said, impressed. "How did you manage to climb over it?"

Angela finished off her drink. "We saved each other's lives...all of us in the unit did." She laced her fingers together and smiled. It was a a solemn, thoughtful smile, like she was remembering a difficult experience, fondly. "We were being hunted. We all could've died but we watched each other's back's, kept each other safe."

Fareeha didn't say anything, only listened intently. Her friend had grown so much as in Overwatch agent. It was a beautiful thing to witness.

"It was there that I learned what it meant to be a part of a squad." Angela hummed. "It's like a family...I'd do anything to protect them."

"I want that someday..." Fareeha hummed back.

"Someday...mein Raven," Angela said, lifting her empty glass. "You and I will watch the skies together."

 

 

Iraq...Present Day 

It was a seasonally cool and windy morning. Hill's backup arrived later than expected but there were no further issues. Once they were in position, Fareeha ordered her team to move out.

It was sad watching Angela say goodbye to all her patients. They begged and pleaded for her not to go, telling her how much they needed her. The worst was the little girl that she had saved. The child clung to her, crying and babbling like a scared little lamb. Angela rubbed the girl's back soothingly as she hummed something soft and beautiful. She truly was an angel of mercy.

Fareeha couldn't help but feel like the bad guy. Who would be so cruel to put all of them through this? Apparently, Fareeha Amari. 

Angela was angry with her, not just for taking her away from her work, but for taking Liao at his word. Liao and Angela had a long bitter history that began the moment Angela joined Overwatch. Fareeha didn't know the details, only that their differences in ideology put them at odds. 

Angela was a pacifist, and she held nothing back when sharing her abhorrence to war and violence. Liao was similarly steadfast in his opinions on the matter. Having grown up on the streets, he naturally had to fight for everything he had those who couldn't fight or refused to, didn't last long. But even after Angela went through basic training, they still argued. Commander Morrison was at the center of it, something else Fareeha didn't fully understand, but now it seemed that SHE was in that same position. The position that ether way, someone was unhappy.

"Let's just go." Angela grumbled, dragging her luggage behind her. Hill held the girl and they both waved goodbye.

"This is for their safety as well as yours." Fareeha said flatly. She didn't have much else to offer by way of apology. She wasn't good with delicacy, she was always blunt and straight forward, preferring that people do the same with her. So much was kept from her growing up.

Angela said nothing in response, insisted scrunching up her nose and stiffening her upper lip. The flight back to Egypt was going to be a quiet one apparently.

When Fareeha, her team, and the doctor boarded the transport It didn't look like that was about to change. Fortunately, Saleh struck up a conversation and Angela stopped with the silent treatment. She seemed happy to meet them at least.

"Root, could you get all your sonar crap out of my seat?!" Tariq groaned.

"Why? you can just take the one next to it." The Omnic buzzed.

"Come on! That one is the creepy curse chair!" Tariq argued. The tall tale was a recent one. The men had all stayed up with Liao one night and he convinced young, impressionable Tariq that the seat was haunted.

"Pfff, Human superstition." Her optical sensors flashed on and off, the equivalent of rolling her eyes.

"Captain! Did you see that?" Tariq snapped.

"You two," Fareeha chuckled, shaking her head. "Why don't you just kiss and get it over with?"

"What?!" Tariq gasped.

R00t immediately moved her equipment, lights glowing red. "How absurd!" She buzzed.

This drew a giggle from Angela who was watching the whole thing. Saleh was snorting on her right, covering his mouth to try and quiet himself. For a brief moment, Fareeha's eyes met with Angela's, the anger behind them had diminished but she still looked away without a word.

Fareeha sat back in her seat as the aircraft took off and pondered her situation. If only Liao and Angela's conflicts were as easy to defuse as R00t and Tariq's. She didn't want Angela and Liao to make trouble with the other. Morrison had found a way to get the two to work together, and both still loved him for it. Fareeha wished she knew exactly what he did. She remembered how much they respected him, how straight forward he was with them, how one side glare would straighten them both out. Fareeha found herself chuckling at the memory.

It was strange, she barely had any lasting memories of Jack. He had always been the more serious and least fun of her adoptive uncles but he wasn't an unkind man. She remembered Strike Commander Morrison though, in fact she had a lot of unresolved anger towards him for never allowing her to join Overwatch after her mother's death, but she didn't associate the two personas together. 

At the extravagant funeral that was thrown for the late commanders, she had mourned Gabe more than Morrison. It wasn't until the coffins were lowered into the ground, seeing some of the strongest people she knew break down, that she felt the loss. Maybe it was Reinhardt's speech or Angela's sweet song of lament, but Fareeha felt the pain deep down, even if she didn't show it. Face the world head-on, with a stiff upper lip and keep moving forward...that was something that she learned from him.

However, since Liao had re-entered her life, she had thought about the old days more and more. Now with Overwatch being recalled it seemed that she would have to address some issues and feelings that she had buried.

"Captain," R00t's synthetic voice buzzed. "I have picked up on reports that Omnic aggression has caused further attacks in Russia and Brazil." Fareeha sighed, they knew things were going to get worse. "But in London, remarkably, people and omnics seem to be coming together in peace."

"Really?" Fareeha asked.

"Mondatta's followers are many in that city. They respect his teachings of nonviolence." R00t said fondly. "Perhaps there is still hope for our people yet."

A smile kissed Fareeha's lips. R00t was an incredibly socially observant Omnic. She must have noticed that Fareeha was melancholy and tried to cheer her up. Angela looked up and smiled as well, good news was in short supply so she took what she could get.

"Find any good sports stations?" Saleh asked playfully. The lights on R00t's head flash green and blue before she buzzed a 'negative'. Saleh laughed. "Just a joke R00t."

"Anything else on London?" Fareeha asked. She was dimly curious if Liao had followed orders and been careful. The fact that there wasn't a major catastrophe on the news was a good sign. She wasn't worried...

R00t chimed. "Something went down at a warehouse near the harbor...Talon is suspected." Fareeha pinched the bridge of her nose. This could be bad. "Ohhh...but this IS interesting..."

"What is?" Saleh asked.

"Most of the people killed are suspected Talon agents, but..." R00t went on.

"What???" The others groaned, all leaning forward expectantly.

"Come on R00t, don't leave us in suspense." Fareeha said gruffly. She definitely wasn't worried...

"Our tech showed up at the crime scene. Pulse munitions and empty Helix rocket shells to be specific."

"Lotus doesn't use that equipment. Do you think it's more of our stolen tech?" Gaz directed the question at his Captain.

"I think that it's likely." Fareeha replied. "Does it say weather Lotus is involved at all?"

"Negative. Our favorite mercenary seems to be uninvolved." R00t answered.

"He's involved." Angela said, matter-of-fact.

"Oh my..." R00t droned off. "How can you tell?"

"Trust me." Angela sighed. R00t gave her a quizzical look.

"I'll contact him as soon as we're out of the desert." Fareeha sighed. Angela was probably right. "Knowing him, there is probably a colorful explanation for all of this."

Once they were out of Iraq, Fareeha prepared to connect a call to England. Funny enough, She received a message before she dialed.

\----------------

MESSAGE 

Lotus- Fareeha, reply to this message as soon as possible. I've sent all the info I found on Talon, back to headquarters but I had to jump on a lead before it disappeared.

Pharah- What happened?

Lotus- Good you replied. You must be out of that dead zone.

Pharah- A warehouse by the docks was shot up, with our equipment. What happened?!

Lotus- It wasn't me, I swear! 76 has struck again. I was right, he IS with the guild.

Pharah- ...Are you okay?

Lotus- I'm fine but I have to leave London if I want any chance of stopping him.

Pharah- I'll call you an airship.

Lotus- No need. I've hitched a ride with a guild Transporter. Now that I've confirmed that 76 is a hunter, I've been paying off the others to cut him off.

Pharah- Where are you both headed?

Lotus- That's the ironic part, it looks like he's actually going to Egypt.

Pharah- Okay, why would he come to Egypt? His Wanted Posters are everywhere here...

Lotus- He's looking for something...or someone, it's probably for a job. As soon as I have him in my tripwires I'll ask him. >:-)

Pharah- Don't get carried away now.

Lotus- Hey, don't you worry about Widowmaker, l've done some weeding and I have people payed off, looking for her too. Tracer and Winston have also agreed to help.

Pharah- As soon as you arrive in Egypt, page me your location so I can back you up.

Lotus- Kiddo...

Pharah- No arguing, I saw the reports on the body count from London. You are not going after 76 by yourself! That's an order!

Lotus- . . . Understood.

\--------------

This was a strange development. Something about it didn't feel right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Guardian is going to end soon but I am going to expand with other stories in this alternate timeline. Be sure to look out for my next work...it has our favorite gunslinger as the main protagonist.


	9. Guilty Conscience

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Liao remembers his old team

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At last! The original strike team in action.

Siberia, Russia...Twenty-five years ago 

It was cold, like really cold. Times like these reminded Liao of how much he didn't miss Russia. Another thing he didn't miss was the deserted ghost town aesthetic that seemed to be everywhere. He was perched up high in one of the dilapidated old buildings that use to be part of a populated city just a decade before. After the Omnics, there was very little left, just skeletons of old architecture, masses of steel and concrete, tightly grouped together.

"Sure it's big enough, but look at the location." Liao quipped, blowing into his hands to warm them.

"Hahahaha!" Reinhardt boomed. "Looking for a vacation home, Li?"

"Yah, l love the crumbling architecture and rustic decor...freezing my nuts off just adds to the experience." Liao replied sarcastically. Rein continued to laugh but Liao could hear Jack grown on the other end. He didn't find the statement that amusing, apparently.

"The horde of metal fucks is moving in. Be ready!" Torbjorn's voice came over the radio, cranky as ever. The team had tracked this particular group of Omnics for days now, and it was finally time to exterminate them. The Russian omnium had to be nearby, with the data on these bots, the team would finally find it.

"Amari in position." The captain called out from the top of a roof. "I have eyes on them. Reinhardt, remember to keep that shield up."

"Of course Ana!" Reinhardt replied. Liao could imagine his exaggerated pout.

"Yeah, protect my turrets or the plan will never work!" Torbjorn barked.

"Reyes here, Morrison and I are standing by." The commander said, dismissive of his teammate's bickering. "Are you all set up Liao?"

"Invisible barriers are up." Liao confirmed. "Once you lead them into the town square they won't be able to escape."

The plan was simple. Liao had set up dozens of anti-omnic disrupters and shields around town square. Torbjorn had turrets set up as well with Reinhardt to shield them from any counter attacks. Ana was up high so was Liao. Gabe and Jack were serving as bait to lure the omnics in. Basically, town square was a kill pit.

"Good." Gabe said. "You ready, Blondie?"

Jack might have said something in reply but Liao didn't hear it. What he DID hear was a strangely cheerful but still terrifying whistle.

Do-do-do-do---do-dooooo!

"Bastion at the rear!" Liao screamed. The horrible death machine was just outside the disruption zone and it was headed right for Gabe and Jack. Liao fired at it but the bullets bounced harmlessly of its metal plating. It stopped its charge and fired a cannon directly at Liao. He managed to roll out of the way and toss a pulse grenade but the bot fired again relentlessly. 

The grenade went off, pushing the Bastion into one of the disruptive fields. It sluggishly transformed out of tank mode and into recon mode before it collapsed, its one red eye going dead.

Liao had a split second to admire his handy work before his attention was brought to the creaking and shaking of the building and the enormous holes that the bastion had put in everything. The building floor suddenly gave way and Liao found himself dangling off the edge. He hung on for dear life, staring into the snow and debris below him. From this height the fall would be fatal even though the snow made it look like a soft landing, Liao kept this in mind as he willed his shaking fingers to hold.

"Liao! Status!" Gabe's voice crackled over the radio.

"Building is coming down!" Liao said, pulling himself up. He had seconds to get out. He could get a running start with the little floor that was left and jump to the next building... at least that was the plan. "Keep everyone back!"

"What about you?!" Gabe's voice asked with more concern.

"I'm moving to the next building." Liao said lining himself up. The rotting beams creaked underneath him as he broke into a sprint. Sounds of collapsing structure behind him motivated him to move faster. His lungs heaved painfully with the cold air but he pushed past it and leapt off the edge. He caught the ledge and clung to the side as the rushing sound of the concrete structure toppling down filled his ears. 

There were the sound of gunshots on the far end of the street. Torbjorn's turrets were busy with the horde, and by the sound of it, so was Gabe. Liao could hear the distinctive booms from the commander's shotguns. Worse, he could hear this building creaking as well.

"You still alive up there?" Gabe called out. "Liao do you copy?!"

"Ummm...I copy." He groaned. "Structures are comprised, I recommend that Amari reposition."

"Copy that. Repositioning." Ana confirmed.

Liao had just enough time to be thankful before the ledge that he had been holding onto gave way. He opened his mouth to scream but nothing came out but a strangled gasp. His life may have flashed before his eyes ( it was short and violent, but hell, at least it wasn't boring). He squeezed his eyes shut as everything seemed to move in slow motion as he plunged to his death.

WACK!

He felt a sudden impact to his chest and a severe sense of vertigo as he was rolled in mid air. He felt the impact of the ground next, though it was muted by something underneath him, cushioning the landing.

"Li!" Ana's voice cracked, loud and pleading in Liao's earpiece. Still, after accepting his imminent death, it was quite possible the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

The world came back into focus and Liao was finally aware of the strong pair of arms holding him in place. He wiggled uncomfortably and the arms released their grip around him and instead helped him sit up. Through his watery vision and stuck on dust he could make out a broad outline with blonde hair and dark blue eyes staring back at him.

"Blue?...you idiot!" Liao said, wiping away his tears. His relief at being alive, replaced by irrational anger. "I told everyone to stay back!" 

Jack snorted in response, standing up and brushing himself off like the shredded coat and bleeding temple he had gotten in the fall meant nothing to him. The only indicator that he felt anything was the slight hiss he made wile brushing rubble off his shoulders.

"Did you leave Gabe ALONE?! What were you thinking?! You could have been killed!" Liao scolded until he had exhausted his breath. His friend was hurt because of him. This kind of behavior was going to be the end of Jack someday.

As Liao huffed, Jack stood stoically with that damned stone expression he always had. "Are you done?" He rumbled, raising an eyebrow and tilting his head ever so slightly. Liao's face sunk and he nodded. Jack extended a hand. "Then get up and get back into the fight." He touched his earpiece and grunted. "Liao is secure, moving to rendezvous with you, commander."

"Good." Gabe said with a relieved sigh.

On the other side of the square Gabe had already ducked behind Reinhardt's shield and had tossed the shotguns in favor of a pulse rifle. The horde of omnics fired back and were doing a number on the shield despite being picked off left and right.

"Torbjorn, how did a bastion get past our initial sweep?" Jack asked, setting a good jogging pace but clearly waiting back for Liao, who trotted beside him.

"It's not a part of this group of omnics. From the look of it, it's an old model." The engineer explained through the sounds of pounding metal and gunfire. "Those things can lay dormant for years before randomly re-activating."

"We'll be on the lookout for any more." Gabe answered. "Jack, Liao, are you ready to finish off these metal bastards?"

Liao reloaded his gun, trying to hide that his hands were shaking. A bit pointless since blue sparks were dancing up his arms, already giving away that he was scared. Jack put a reassuring hand on Liao's shoulder, his arm hair could be seen standing up through a tear in his coat, as electricity surged painfully through him.

"You've got this." Jack said, giving the shoulder a squeeze. "I'll be watching your back."

Liao sucked air in through his nose, nodding his head and tapping his earpiece. "Ready when you are, sir."

Liao could feel Gabe's grin on the other end. "Light em' up!" He ordered, and the two soldiers came out, opening fire on the unsuspecting horde. A short rang out in the distance and an Omnic, that was trying to flank around, had its head taken off. Ana had found a new hiding place, apparently. 

Click!

The rifle had run out of ammo. "Reloading!" Liao announced, ducking behind a car.

"Got you covered." Jack grunted, pivoting rigidly and taking down each Omnic with almost robotic percussion.

"Hammer down!" Reinhardt announced. Earth shatter crawled along the ground, knocking over the last of the omnics. With one shout, the massive armored man charged forward, barreling through the metal bodies. Gabe followed behind, popping off any stragglers.

When the dust settled, all that was left of the horde was twisted scrap. Torbjorn grumbled in Swedish as he cracked open a few of the heads and tore out the circuitry inside. He had his work cut out for him. "Piece of scrap!" He mumbled, bringing his wrench down on one head that was still glowing.

"Yeah you get it, Torb." Ana hummed as she placed a bandage on Jack's back. "You've gone and made quite the mess of yourself...again." She scolded, running a hand through his hair and addressing the cut on his temple.

"Could you at least pretend like you're cold?!" Liao asked. He was holding the tattered remains of Jack's coat wile Ana patched him up and Jack hadn't so much as shivered.

"It is unsettling." Ana agreed, wiping away dry blood with a cloth.

"Leave him alone, I ain't cold." Gabe said grinning widely.

"That's because you are hot and sweaty from running around like a maniac." Ana shot back dryly.

"Never bothered you before." He mumbled, earning him a jab in the ribs from the sniper.

"You do kinda stink, by the way." Jack said dryly. There was a slight twitch to his lips that Liao recognized as a thin smile.

"Oh, who asked you?!" Gabe groaned. Even so he gave his hoodie a sniff.

"Ah! There ya are!" Torbjorn said enthusiastically. "Our golden ticket to the omnium." He held up a jumble of wires and circuit boards that he had fashioned together. "We plug this into a computer, it will lead us straight to the god program. That Bastion had just the part I needed."

"Outstanding!" Reinhardt exclaimed. "Victory awaits!"

"Well then, we better get back to base." Gabe said. Preparing to call a transport. Ana finished up with Jack and followed behind.

"So...that's five I owe you." Liao murmured, handing Jack back his coat.

"We're still counting?" Jack asked. "It's not like you owe me some kind of life debt. You took care of that bastion, it never touched us."

"But I do—" Liao protested.

"Nope." Jack said coldly, needlessly zipping up his coat. "I protect my family. Help me do that, and we'll call it even."

"I..." Liao's mouth clicked shut. He looked for the right words. "Someone's got to protect you too, Blue."

"Just say you'll do it," Jack said crossing his arms and somehow becoming even more rigid. "Don't get all mushy on me."

Liao laughed outwardly at his friend's awkward posture."I promise."

 

Present Day 

"Whoa! Watch it with the freaky lighting!" The transport pilot complained. "You're fucking up my instruments!"

Liao looked up, eyes fluttering. He didn't remember falling asleep, though after the past few days he'd had, he wasn't surprised that he passed out. His thigh was throbbing even with painkillers. He was also nursing a nasty migraine; it always happened when he released all his energy at once. Now that he was recharging, the tiny bolts had a mind of their own.

"Sorry, I'll try and tone it down." Liao grumbled. He popped two pills into his mouth and swallowed them, he hoped they would kick in fast. The pitch of the pilot's voice was just high enough to be really annoying. The claustrophobic space of the small aircraft wasn't helping either.

See, he had fibbed when he told Fareeha that he had hired a Guild Transporter. He had good reason to assume that the Guild's London branch hated his guts.This pilot, Mac, was actually one of Tracer's old contacts with the Royal Air Force. She had called him up before heading off to Gibraltar with Emily. They had promised to follow any leads on Widowmaker. It was a kind gesture, no association with the guild meant Mac was less likely to sell Liao out but had none of the professional silence of guild pilots.

"Lotus, aren't you suppose to be like a Kung Fu ninja? Try meditation or something." The pilot suggested. 

Liao bit his tongue. There was no need to go off on this kid explaining that 'Ninja' were from Japan and he was in fact NOT from Japan. A rant on cultural differences would not help his headache. Meditation was also off the list of activities, concentrating chi would only make the unruly bolts, stronger.

It wasn't hard, finding the brokers who burned him. Liao simply traced info he had stolen from one of the Talon agents that he dropped. Once he knew the broker, he marked them down on the Guild site, putting them in the RED, not recommended category. A RED, rating could ruin someone. If he didn't have a juicy lead on 76 to follow, he would have tracked them down and kicked the shit out of them...lucky them.

By the time Liao and Tracer reached the warehouse, the whole place was locked down by the police. A lot of people were dead, supposedly. They weren't letting anyone near the scene.There was no way they would allow Liao in to see, not with his battered trench coat and missing pant leg.

No matter. He got what he needed with just a little piggyback bug on the police communicator. He would send everything he got to Fareeha...though she would probably not like his methods. Hell, with Dr. Ziegler there she— that wasn't fair. Fareeha wasn't so easily manipulated, Angela would have to try extra hard to wrap Her around her finger.

Still, Liao found himself worrying. A sign of a guilty conscience, the doctor would probably say. She'd be right to, that's the part that stung. Angela Ziegler was right about a lot of things regarding him, he was a liar and he was guilty but he had never lied to Jack about Gabe and he wasn't guilty of their murder. 

When he was released from lockup, they basically dumped him on the streets of Hong Kong. Dr. Ziegler just happened to be holding a conference there. He approached her afterward, he didn't want to ask for help but he desperately needed it. He remembered that she screamed when she saw him. Like she was afraid that he'd hurt her. They spoke only briefly, before Ziegler pushed him away. To her credit, she did point him to a shelter, where other people who weren't HER could help.

"So are you like Lena? Former Overwatch?" Mac asked, tearing Liao away from his thoughts. (A good thing, too.)

"Yep, I was head of our HR department...you would not guess how many times I had to file sexual harassment complaints." Liao said, lying through his teeth. "You would have thought those people were professionals...nope, try Soap opera level drama on a daily basis." The last statement not so much a lie.

"Hahahaha! Aren't you a peach." Mac laughed, no doubt aware of Liao's deception. HR staff didn't have field training. "Sounds like a lively bunch."

"Yep..." Liao smiled fondly. He thought back to Fareeha and her squad, they were very much like he remembered his original team. There was even the bickering and unresolved sexual tension. He was glad that she was so close with them...a family bond was important. He had yet to see them in action. Part of him was really looking forward to it. 

From the guild tracker, Liao had learned that 76 had booked passage to Giza, Egypt. In fact a little too close to Helix for comfort. Maybe he was going to try and steal another experimental weapon. If he was, he was in for a nasty surprise.

"Ah! We're here!" Mac announced. "Giza, lovely place for a holiday."

"Excellent." Liao said. He clipped on his visor and started going through tabs on his tach-pad. Just his luck, someone had already reported on 76's location. He smirked to himself, "Not so hard to track now that I know what you are."

The hunter that reported the siting agreed to meet Liao at a hunter gathering Hub in the market. He was not the most trustworthy member of the guild, going by the ORANGE on his profile so Liao would keep his wits about him. He was not about to be caught with his pants down again.

Mac started to make a dissent. "I'll talk to the tower at the airport so we can land." Mac said.

"You do that." Liao said, rising to his feet and clipping on a parachute. "Wile you're at it, open the side door."

"You what?!" Mac asked, whirling his head around.

"I'd rather not deal with Airport traffic. That and I'm very eager to get out of this tight enclosed space." Liao said as he readied herself by the door.

"You're bonkers!" Mac exclaimed. He still did as Liao asked and slid open the door. The wind rushed in, whipping through Liao's hair.

"If you spent twenty years behind an HR desk, then you'd hate tight places as well!" Liao quipped before leaping out. The city of Giza, beneath him was wide and crowded with buildings. He wanted to get to the Hub as quickly as possible, so he pointed himself to the eastern part of the market, where it was located. 

He pulled the chute as late as he could, steering it to the colorful banners of the street venders. The people looked up in confusion as he floated over them. He landed on top of a shop, clipping out of the chute then tucking and rolling. His gunshot wounds protested, as dit the merchants.

"ماذا؟!" One of the merchants yelled.

Liao grimaced, he didn't speak good Arabic but he could tell that the man was far from amused with his entrance. He made a quick shrug in apology before disappearing down an alley. No point in saving the parachute, someone else could have it. Besides, be would buy Mac a new one.

He cut through alleyways and tents until he reached the Guild Hub. Other hunters were gathered around. Most were socializing and others were looking up the local bounties. Liao found the hunter he was looking for under a canopy. He was a sketchy looking man with crooked teeth and unkempt brown hair. He wore a green military style jacket and appeared to be holding an ice pack to his face.

"Let me guess, you thought you could take him by yourself." Liao said, not bothering with a greeting.

"What?" The man asked, had falling to his holstered gun. "Who—"

Liao clicked his tongue. This man was clearly an idiot. "Where is 76? You told me that you'd see him."

"You're Lotus." The hunter said with new understanding.

"You're wasting my time." Liao hadn't removed his visor so all the man could read on his face was the thin frown across his lips.

"All right, all right!" The hunter huffed. "I saw him by the bounty wall earlier."

"Go on." Liao said.

"Information isn't free."

Liao sighed placing a token on the table. "Give this to the Local Guild Master and he'll take you off ORANGE. "The man grinned, reaching for the coin but Liao swiped it away. "Where is he now?"

"He was looking for another hunter, Shrike. Probably trying to collect the bounty on his head."

Shrike. Liao had heard of this hunter. An exceptionally good sniper, apparently. 76 was playing with fire, going after him. 76, the crazy bastard had just killed a bunch of Talon agents in London, now he was in Egypt a day and a half later, hunting other hunters. It was like he didn't even pause to take a breath. "That's what makes him so dangerous." Liao mused as the man went on.

"Anyway Shrike has been causing a lot of problems for Hakim, 76 is on his way to a compound where he'll probably find Shrike." The man rubbed his swollen jaw, tenderly nursing a black eye. "Maybe you bring 76 back here when you get him? So I can give him one of these to match."

Liao hummed, not remotely entertaining the idea. "This compound, where is it?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading:-)
> 
> Only a few chapters left, lots of action to come.


	10. Falcon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fareeha has lost so much that every time she gets attached to someone...there is the fear that they will be taken away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fluff...Fluff incoming. Sorry, not Sorry...

Overwatch Hq, Switzerland...Twenty years ago

Fareeha stood in her fancy white dress with her hands folded and tried to resist the urge to giggle. It was complete chaos around her as her mother, uncles, and friends fussed about trying to get into position. Liao was in front messing with Gabe's camera.

"Quit screwing around with the settings." Jack complained. "There's a UN meeting in ten minutes."

"Really Jack? We don't want to go to that meeting anyway." Gabe hummed, giving a little wink at Fareeha. She broke and let out a bout of giggles.

"Rein! Lean down, you're still out of frame." Liao said, adjusting the lens on the camera.

Reinhardt leaned down, a bit awkwardly, and put a massive hand on Ana's arm. Fareeha jumped a little as her mother placed her hands around her shoulders. Jesse was laughing, bobbing back and forth like an exited puppy.

"Come on McCree, stop with the moving." Liao sighed. "Hold him still, someone."

Reinhardt took his other hand and held Jesse in place, making him crack up even more.

"Thank you! Now...Torb go in front next to Fey...and Angela, next to your godfather. Sharp, next to her..." Liao was interrupted again by Jesse's laughter. "And punch McCree if he doesn't quit it."

"I'll never quit!" Jesse announced, confidently. 

Liao rolled his eyes. "Lacroix, kneel down in front. Gabe and Jack, move closer together...Pretend that you like each other."

"What if we hold hands? Think that will be convincing?" Gabe cackled nudging Jack in the ribs.

Jack in response, teasingly flipped the hood of Gabe's jacket over his head and eyes. "In your dreams, Reyes."

"Ok we're almost perfect." Liao smirked. "Torb and Gabe remember to scowl for the camera, gotta keep up those public personas. Jack, remember to smile, convince us you're not a robot...Okay! Three...two...one...Everyone say cheese!"

Click!

"Perfect." Liao said happily.

"Take another one, I think I blinked!" Jesse said, waving an arm at Liao.

"Unfortunately I don't have time for another one." Jack said, annoyed. "I have to get to the conference room...Gabe and Ana too."

"Awwww." Fareeha whined, slumping her shoulders. Her mother was going away again, it always made her sad.

"You and I will go and get breakfast, tomorrow, after I get back." Her mother said, kneeling down and kissing her forehead. "Don't stay up to late."

"Mmmooooommmmm!" Fareeha groaned, flushing pink but secretly enjoining the affection.

"Come on kiddo, let's get you some dinner." Liao said, nudging her gently in the direction of the mess hall.

"Thanks for helping out, Li." Jack said. He was walking towards the conference room but something was missing.

"Where's your coat, Blue?" Liao asked. He arched an eyebrow, even though Jack wasn't facing him.

"I hate the stupid thing. It gets caught on literally everything." Jack said, walking more briskly.

"Your the Strike Commander now! Wear the damn coat!"

"I'm still here." Fareeha giggled.

"That's another dollar for the swear jar!" Jack replied from down the hall.

"Oh, cut me some slack would you!" Liao protested. "You're bleeding me dry!"

Fareeha grabbed the camera and began flipping through through the pictures. She trotted alongside her uncle and made remarks on the ones she liked. There was one particular one of a bird in flight, some kind of eagle, that she liked very much. 

She liked how it's strong wings carried it through the air. She liked its powerful outstretched claws. She loved how free and fearless it looked.

"Thinking of becoming an Ornithologist?" Liao asked when he noticed her interest in the picture.

"What's that?" Fareeha asked, raising an eyebrow.

"A bird scientist." Liao smirked.

"No, I'm going to be Strike Commander of Overwatch." Fareeha huffed, turning up her nose. "I'd wear the long coat."

"Oooooo, is that so?" Liao chuckled. "I better warn Blue that someone is after his job."

Fareeha smiled, but not her normal happy smile.

"Hey, what's wrong Fey?" Liao asked. He stopped his stride and learned down to be eye level with her.

"Do you really think I can do it...or are you just saying that?" She murmured sadly.

"What brought this up?" He asked, still cheerful but hiding concern.

"I...I want to do great things...like mother...like you." She said. "But sometimes I don't think people think I can."

"What people?" Liao frowned. "I'll give them a piece of my mind."

Fareeha giggled as the tips of her hair began to stand up. Liao was actually mad. "No, uncle Li." She said, patting his arm. "It's...mother."

"Oh..." he relaxed a bit and shook his head. "Your mom just wants you to keep your options open is all. It's...it's complicated."

"No it's not! I know what I want to be." She hiccuped. "I just want to be strong like her."

Liao made a sound that she never heard him make before. It was almost a hitch of his breath. He smiled warmly, "You ARE strong, Fey. You can do anything, you just have to work for it." Taking the camera from her, he pointed at the eagle. "This is you, someday wilth the world watching, you'll be up in the sky, wearing the commander's blues and nobody else is going to compare."

Fareeha beamed from his words and rubbed her eyes. "Not lying to make me feel better?"

"Not lying." Liao smiled.

She took the camera back from him and pointed it at herself. She motioned for him to kneel down beside her. "We didn't get a group picture with you in it." She said smiling.

"Ehh, it doesn't matter." He sighed. "Pictures aren't really my..."

"Sure it does." She frowned. "So, you can be in a picture with me."

"Okay...okay, kiddo." He said, leaning in so they both would be in frame.

"Say cheese!" She smirked.

 

Helix Security, Cairo, Egypt...Present day 

"That concludes my report for Iraq." Fareeha said. It had been a difficult debriefing, especially since the mission, in her mind, had been a failure. Angela was safe, yes, but Helix had arrived too late to save all the refugees. Her initial reluctance to even go on this mission had now seeded guilt.

Croft nodded her head and brought up a window on her computer. It was a file on Angela with all her credentials. "Doctor Ziegler's safety is of the upmost concern to us." She adjusted her glasses and folded her hands on the desk. "You said you have history, so you want responsibility for her."

"Yes sir, I believe she will be more cooperative if I am." Fareeha replied.

"Hence why I sent you to Iraq in the first place." Croft said evenly. "Angela is notoriously stubborn. I knew an old friend would convince her to come under our protection."

Fareeha felt herself tense up. "Obtaining Dr. Ziegler was your plan all along? What about the refugees?"

"The plan was to extract her before her enemies made a move and killed anyone." Croft shook her head. She was disappointed with their response time. "We were a few hours to late. After what happened to Mondatta in England...I knew she'd be next."

"How?" Fareeha frowned. She despised it when information was kept from her. She was in a bad mood from the general lack of sleep and the unresolved emotions she hadn't been able to vent. Now her boss was keeping secrets.

"She's a high profile humanitarian, working in a high danger zone. My sources have been tracking her and her enemies for some time." Croft explained, sensing Fareeha's discomfort. "Lotus, introduced me to some of these sources."

The last statement felt like bait. Croft had begun to suspect that there was some history between Fareeha and Lotus. She had been fishing for a reaction from Fareeha, something she would not give her. Liao didn't want his true identity know, mostly because his true identity was a convicted of murder and conspiracy. Fareeha wasn't about to give it up. She didn't like how Croft was manipulated things, it made her feel used.

"So Dr. Ziegler is under MY watch, then?" She said, ignoring the baited statement.

Croft sighed. "Not exactly. You are already Lotus's handler, you can only be in charge of one asset at a time."

This time Fareeha cleared her throat. Croft had the look in her eye that said she was digging for something. Fareeha didn't want to lose Liao. Had she done something to make Croft so suspicious? The thought occurred to her that one of the "sources" had said something...They had tried to ruin Lotus before. Before she could respond to Croft's statement, her boss continued. Apparently noticing her hesitation.

"I know that there is something between you and that contractor." Croft grumbled, narrowing her eyes. "I knew it the moment I introduced you two. You were immediately comfortable around him, like you knew him very well."

"It's not what you think." Fareeha said hastily. She REALLY hoped Croft didn't suspect romantic fraternization. For one thing, it could actually get her fired. For two, the thought was nauseating. "He and I are only...friends. I know him from my time in the military." May as well say 'friends' they had been far too affectionate to be just colleagues.

"Then why keep it a secret, you're not the only one who hates when things are kept from her." Croft scoffed, tapping her finger on her desk. "You're a soldier Amari, and I'm in command here. It isn't your place to question my motives in seeing you to Iraq."

"....Yes Sir." Fareeha said. She wasn't about to argue further. Croft was not a person you wanted to be on the wrong side of.

"You have a decision to make, Captain. If you want Dr. Ziegler under your supervision, I will reassign Lotus." Croft said. "Let me know by the end of the day."

"Of course, Sir," She said, not letting on that Croft's decision upset her. "but I am expecting a call from Lotus, he's on the heels of our thief. He will need back up."

Croft purses her lips, looking like she was mulling something over. "Yes, go and support him, it's about time we get our rifle out of the hands of that madman."

"I'm on it."

"Then good hunting, Captain Amari." Croft said, gesturing to the door. "You are dismissed."

Outside the office, to Fareeha's surprise, Angela was waiting for her.

"You don't have to choose between me or him." The Doctor said. Her tone was firm but not unkind. "Helix and other companies have tried recruiting me before, but I am an independent agent. I won't be another tool in the box."

"Angela..." Fareeha sighed. "You need protection. You have way too many people trying to kill you...if you won't accept Helix then maybe you should return to Overwatch."

"It was shut down for a reason, Fey. Perhaps it should've stayed that way." She replied with a shrug. "Look, I want to help you, I can provide healing for you and your team, come time to regroup with Lia–Lotus."

"You want to come along?!" Fareeha exclaimed. "...Croft will never authorize that."

"Like I said, I don't work for Croft." Angela argued. "And enough worrying about my safety. Unlike what Liao might have you believe, I'm not some damsel in distress."

 

Hakim's compound, Giza, Egypt 

Shotguns. At least that's what Liao thought he heard on the other side of the wall. Shotguns and yelling but no distinctive Pulse rifle sounds or a sniper rifle. There was some kind of fight going on but it didn't sound like 76 was using the gun he stole.

76's handiwork was definitely at the entrance. Hakim's guards were tied up in a pile, slumped over, unconscious rather than dead. This must have been meant to be a clean job, no killing. "Might explain why I can't hear Helix's rifle." Liao mused.

A plume of black smoke suddenly rose from the other side of the compound. The yelling and the gunshots ceased. That was weird. The smoke just seemed to come up all at once and twist around the building despite there being no wind. Fareeha and company would not arrive for at least another few minutes but Liao felt like he needed to enter the property, just to check things out.

Lucky for him that 76 dealt with the guards, daytime oops were lousy if he wanted to sneak in. Spying a Jeep that was parked near the wall, Liao climbed on top of it then ran up the rest of the wall. He landed with a roll, his thigh and side throbbing from where he'd been shot. He would be needing another round of painkillers soon.

He hugged the wall of the main house and peeked over to a pool area. Through a chain fence, he saw what he was looking for. The heavy pulse rifle was laying in the sand wile 76 walked over to it and picked it up. He walked with a slight limp and crimson blood smeared across his right side. Shrike, the sniper, who stood with his back to Liao, began busily attending to 76's wounds.

"Isn't this a development." Liao hummed. "You two make nice?"

The rumble of a drop ship filled the air, dust and sand swirling violently around them. All three hunters looked up but Liao wasn't happy with what he saw. A black ship was an unmistakable 'Claw' insignia.

"Talon." Liao hissed. "Why do you Motherfuckers have to be everywhere..."

 

Helix Security, Cairo, Egypt

Fareeha went back to the Armor garage to inspect her suit. She was already wearing the tight black under suit, ready to jump into action once she got Liao's call. She didn't want to admit it but she had a nervousness about the situation. As long as her uncle was out there alone...she was at risk of losing him. Not just if he were to be killed, but like he would simply disappear and she'd never see him again. 

The rest of her team was gathering around her, also ready to go.

"We're ready whenever you are, Cap." Gaz said.

"All of us." Angela appeared in the doorway, wearing her Valkyrie suit. Complete with Overwatch blue, white and gold, Caduceus staff, and angelic wings trailing behind her.

"Wow doc!" Tariq grinned approvingly.

"I suppose there's no point in telling you that you shouldn't come." Fareeha sighed.

"No point whatsoever." Angela replied, but not snarky. That didn't stop Fareeha from frowning. "...Can we talk for a moment?" Angela asked.

The others looked from one another, shrugged and gave the two women some space. Fareeha crossed her arms and nodded for Angela to continue.

"I was angry that I had to leave my patients..."the doctor began. "But you were right, I was putting them in danger by being there." She sighed. "I don't want there to be any hard feelings between us...it was unkind of my to take out my frustrations on you."

"Why do you even want to come on the mission?" Fareeha asked, running a hand through her dark hair. "This won't exactly be pretty business."

"Remember when we talked about watching the skies together?" Angela hummed. "We can do that now..."

Fareeha was warmed my the statement. Even though she suspected that part of Angela's motivation was to make sure Liao behaved himself.

"All right." Fareeha said. "But you have to follow my orders. I tell you to hang back, you hang back...we clear?"

"Absolutely." Angela replied with a smile.

"Captain." R00t buzzed. "I have Lotus on the line."

"Finally." Fareeha said. "Patch him through."

R00t's lights flashed green and Liao's voice came out of her speakers. "Captain Amari, are you there?"

"Right here Lotus, go ahead."

"I've tracked our target to a compound just outside Giza. I've sent the coordinates." Liao stated. "Talon is here...I believe I may have stumbled onto one of their hideouts."

"What can you tell us about the compound?"

"Place belongs to a man called Hakim. He's suspected of a laundry list of illegal activities. Concrete structure, with a wall surrounding it. Shouldn't be much of a problem for the Raptora suits. There is a main building, two guard stations, a supply shed, and a pool house. Lots of cover for ground troops, there the suits might not work as well."

"What about Talon? How many are we dealing with?"

"I count at least three squads...they have a drop ship that might have more. Plus 76 and his new friend Shrike are still skulking around." Liao stated quietly. "I need to make myself scarce...hurry."

"Shrike?" There was no mention of a partner before.

"Um, a guild sniper...thought 76 was trying to collect a bounty on him. But they seem to be working together actually." Liao whispered nervously. "I'm wrong sometimes..."

"We're on our way." Fareeha said. Disconnecting the call. "Team, suit up and get to the transport!"

"Captain!" They all said.

Fareeha went over to her own armor stand and allowed the mechanical arms to bolt her into her suit. Arms, legs, chest and lastly the helmet, all the pieces hissing as they were looked in place. The HUD flickered to life, all systems in the green. Fareeha smiled, "Green across the board. Ready for action."

\------------------------------------

Liao didn't have time to climb the wall and leave the compound. With the amount of Talon troops, he couldn't fight his way out ether. His only option was to hide. Luckily he was pretty good at that.

The pool house was the easiest building to break into. It wasn't well reinforced so he was able to crawl through an opening in the roof. Using his whip as a rope, he hung from the ceiling. He'd be well out of sight to of anyone doing a sweep.

At least if the weak beams held him...Liao didn't have much luck when it came to collapsing buildings. 

Fareeha and her team had to arrive soon...he could already hear the creaking.

\-----------------------------------

"Talon aircraft! 10 o'clock!" Fareeha shouted as her ship approached the compound. They had made record time but things looked like they had gone to hell since she and Liao last spoke. Her heart sunk into her gut. She knew something wasn't right about this opp, she just knew it.

"Lotus, what's your status?!" Fareeha called into her radio.

There was a crackle before Liao responded. "I had to retreat and take cover in one of the buildings...I'm in the pool house, power's out."

"Are you injured at all?"

"No, but I don't know how safe I'll be, this isn't a very secure building...it's just soft plaster." Liao replied, his voice a whisper.

"Hunker down. I'm coming to get you!" Fareeha said. She turned from her team and looked out the side door.

Troops were descending from the craft and making a full blown raid on the building. Worse, the craft itself started to fire in Fareeha's direction as soon as they were in range.

"LZ is to hot captain!" The pilot stated.

"Hit the booster and get us up high!" Fareeha ordered. "Team! We're going to fly out at altitude and then rain rockets down on top of them!"

The pilot hit the throttle and the ship began to climb. "Captain, we don't want that thing picking us off." Gaz said, moving to the door. "I can distract them wile you get into position."

Fareeha pondered this for a moment. It was dangerous but Gaz was quick and resourceful. "Good idea. Be as annoying as possible Lieutenant."

"Yes ma'am!" Gaz replied as he jetted away. Dodging the ship's fire he circled it around like a mosquito.

Fareeha's ship stopped ascending. "All right. Tariq, Saleh, Ammit, stay out of each others lines of fire. Barrages on my mark. R00t, Mercy I want you to follow as soon as the ship goes down. Lotus is in the pool house, be careful, we don't want any of our rockets hitting there."

"Affirmative." Angela and the others nodded.

"Lets move!" Fareeha said, jumping to the wind. Air rushed past her as she torpedoed towards the compound. The three men followed, getting into formation. Gaz was doing a good job at keeping Talon busy. "In range of the target, form up and prepare to fire!"

"Rodger!"

"Form up...lock on target...fire!"

Thrusting out their suits' stabilizing wings, the four of them hovered in mid-air and unleashed a collective bombardment of rockets on the Talon ship. The unsuspecting aircraft was pelted, ripped apart in a ball of flames. The troops on the ground took cover as the ship plummeted.

"Good work, Team. Fan out and deal with the ground troops. Most of them look to be loaded out for close range. Keep our advantage and stay airborne." Fareeha ordered. She waited until R00t and Angela floated down before moving up.

Angela attached a booster stream to Fareeha's suit and the systems maxed out. "Let's take care of these barbarians." She said.

Fareeha wasted no time, flying forward and shooting a concussion round to knock Talon out of cover. Angela glided behind her giving words of encouragement.

"Don't stop now." She hummed. "More on the east side."

With the stream boosting suit proportion, Fareeha and Angela made short work of the enemy's front line, wile Gaz and Saleh took care of the back. It also helped that Ammit was attentive in projecting shields on them when they needed it.

"We make a great team." Angela announced. Smiling at the tank when he blocked a hail of bullets from hitting her.

"Mercy, lock onto Ammit, those shields would benefit from a boot." Fareeha said. "R00t, I need eyes on the buildings."

R00t fired a sonic round and made a scan. "Captain, I am getting multiple heat signatures from the pool–"

"I've been compromised." Liao's voice interrupted. Followed by the sound of pulse rifle fire.

"No..." Fareeha gasped.

\----------------------------------

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the last one. Then an epilogue. Thanks for reading :-)


	11. Old Soldiers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Opposing forces finally collide

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back! 
> 
> So I was busy with a horde of undead, I've been traveling the land as a bard with my trusty companions, and I need to level up my magic to save the world...also I've been playing more Skyrim than Overwatch lately. I might write a few fics in about that later...
> 
> Anyway, Enjoy!

"What...you?!" A gravely synthesized voice boomed as Liao dropped from the ceiling and rolled out of the line of bullets. In the darkness of the room, Liao's visor could pick out a broad outline and highlight it in red.

"Surprise!" Liao said cracking his whip, blue sparks briefly lighting up his silhouette. 

76 held out his hand to shield himself but it wrapped around his arms and Liao sent out a painful shock.

"Gaaahhhh!" 76 growled in pain.

"First you save my life and then you take a shot at me?" Liao clicked his tongue in a scolding manner. "Make up your mind."

Liao was about move in with his gun but was caught off guard when the hunter grabbed hold of the whip and yanked it from his hand.

"What?!" Liao hissed. Off balance and not fast enough to dodge 76's lunge, he was hit with the but of the rifle and saw stars as he fell to the ground. He regained his composure quickly but 76 was already looming over him.

"You shouldn't be here!" 76 growled. He wrenched Liao's pistol from his hand and tossed it aside. Then, held both his arms so he couldn't move and hoisted the slighter man up. "Talon has —gaaahhh!" 

Liao had kneed 76 in his bloodied abdomen, digging into the wound for good measure. 76 dropped him and clutched his side. Fighting dirty was one of the first things Liao learned. He knew how to make a person hurt. Using 76's split-second distraction he landed a charged up kick to the man's head.

There was a loud Crack! and dull pain jolted up Liao's leg. In hindsight he shouldn't have used his injured leg, but he knew that the impact still hurt 76 more than it hurt him.

"Luuu..." 76 fell to one knee, an angry wince escaped him as he slowly looked back up. Liao was shocked that the man was still conscious and the slow movement of his head turn was more than a little unsettling. Liao tried not to think, Terminator.

The red visor was cracked glowing brightly enough for Liao to see 76 more clearly. He was older than Liao had estimated, that hair of his was definitely white, not platinum blonde like he originally thought. He also had a long scar that peaked out from under the visor.

"Talon's here for YOU then." Liao hissed, swallowing his nerves and taking a defensive stance. He assumed 76 would recover quickly. "Well you're just pissing everyone off today."

"That's an understatement!" Snarled, a breathy disembodied voice, so cold that it caused all the hairs on the back of Liao's neck to stand up.

A panicked chill ran down his spine. Everything was strangely familiar, flashes of his dream crossed his mind. The red glare, the sounds of battle, Jack's hallow gaze, and just like the dream a pair of clawed hands lurched from behind him and dug into his clavicle.

Adrenaline took over and unlike the dream, Liao still had the wires mounted on his wrists. Dropping one node to the floor and squeezing the other, electricity shot through him and his attacker. The current knocked him on his ass but be was use to it, which was more than could be said for his attacker.

An almost animalistic scream erupted and the claws seemingly evaporated in a cloud of black smoke.

"當佢無到?!" Liao sputtered, English suddenly impossible. Another thing he felt impossible was how dark everything had become. He brought a hand to his face and realized that his visor had disengaged during the attack. He whipped his head around to look for it and came face to face with a floating pair of red eyes. For a moment...just a moment, he looked into them and they looked into him. Coming out of his trance, he let out a surprised yelp and shuffled away from the red orbs as fast as he could, bones aching with every movement. Strangely, the creature seemed to do the same thing.

76 was back on his feet by now and was brandishing a side arm. He kept it aimed at the red eyes. They looked like they were about lunge at each other when, there was the sound of something plummeting through the air...coming right for them. The ceiling gave way, 76 and the creature darted to cover as a blue Raptora suit crashed through.

"Lotus, sound off!" Fareeha called as she rose from the pile of rubble she had created. 76 poked out from his cover only to receive a concussive blast that knocked him against the wall. "Get back!" Fareeha shouted, the anger noticeable in her voice.

"Look out! There's a...thing! Around here somewhere!" Liao warned, emerging from cover. He leaned down and grabbed the pulse rifle that was amongst the rubble. He had come here to do a job after all.

76 however, had disappeared, no longer where the blast had thrown him. He must have ran out the side door. Liao tried to get up but his bad leg had finally buckled. Shocking himself had probably reopened something. 

"Then lets get out of here!" Fareeha wasted no time. She picked Liao up with minimal effort and tucked him under her arm. "Hold onto me." She ordered.

She took off, one arm holding Liao, the other holding her rocket launcher. They were almost clear of the building when the black cloud flew towards them. Fareeha fired a rocket into it but it simply dispersed and came together again.

"What the hell is that?!" Fareeha shouted, firing another rocket with a similar result. This time it dodged the round and slithered along the side of the main building.

"I don't know, just get away from it!" Liao said, clinging to Fareeha for dear life. He felt himself slipping but she kept a firm hold on him. 

He was impressed with how strong she was. She managed to hold him, shoot rockets and dodge bullets at the same time. She also kept busy coordinating her team. She was really something. Liao was proud, so proud.

"It's okay, I've got you...You're hurt!" Fareeha said in alarm. 

Liao glanced to where he had been clawed. Sure enough blood was gushing out. "Well, shit! Guess this jacket is officially ruined." He grunted.

"Mercy! We need you over here!" Fareeha called.

The doctor was currently floating behind Ammit, using her staffs boosting ability to supplement his armor systems. She quickly changed positions and looked onto Fareeha, gliding over with surprising speed.

"Did someone call a doctor?" She said sweetly. She changed to the nano healing on her staff and shot a beam into Liao.

Liao felt a grin despite himself as he was bathed in warm light. "You know...I'm actually glad to see you." He admitted.

Angela hummed, looking him over. "How did this happen?" She asked, her eyes narrowed almost accusatory.

There went the grin. "You're not even going to believe me." He huffed.

"Don't be like this Li! Tell me what happened!" The doctor snapped.

"Well if you must know, I was attacked by a Fucking cloud!" Liao snapped back. "It had claws! And RED eyes!"

Angela didn't get angry like he thought she would. Instead her eyes became as wide as saucers and all the color drained from her face.

"Angela?" Fareeha asked, worriedly. "What is it?"

"Reaper..." Angela croaked in response.

"The Talon mercenary?!" Liao barked. "The killer of former Overwatch agents..."

"And he's seen your face..." Fareeha finished, subconsciously tightening her grip on her uncle.

"Oh no!" Angela said. Her lip was quivering and she looked genuinely confused about something. "You...but...you...he tried to kill you?!"

"Yes! I thought we established that." Liao wanted to demand what her problem was but having this conversation in the middle of a firefight was already a bad idea.

"Alright!" Fareeha boomed. "Both of you get a grip. Lotus, I'm taking you back to my ship."

Liao gritted his teeth, about to protest, but the sharp pain he experienced when Fareeha changed direction, reminded him that he was in no condition to fight.

\---------------------------------

The Helix craft had to circle around. Fareeha had to stay airborne wile it did, dodging fire from the few ground troops that remained, and in return shooting rockets.

"What the hell is taking so long?!" Fareeha blurted into her radio. At least one of the Talon troops had a sniper rifle and one of the shots had nearly hit her.

"We're taking fire from a truck on the far side...it looks like it's retracting from the compound."

"Never mind the truck!" Fareeha boomed. "Lotus is hurt and my team is exposed out here!"

"Captain! I found the sniper! Main building, top floor!" Gaze called. Before a loud shot rang out. It had to be 50 caliber or higher, it was loud enough. The next sound was Saleh's panicked screaming.

"Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!"

The shot had clipped his wings and he was now falling like a stone. He would have been a splatter on the ground if it wasn't for Tariq and Ammit. Tariq caught him wile the tank projected a shield over them.

"Thanks, big guy." Tariq said, checking Saleh's injuries. "Medic!"

Angela perked up, trying to lock onto one of them. "You're to far!" She said, agitatedly. "One of you move closer!"

A second shot rang out, this one just missing Gaz. It was a good thing the man was so nimble. The team was separated now, and that made them easy targets. Not to mention Fareeha was greatly slowed from carrying Liao.

"Form up!" Fareeha ordered. Jetting towards her teammates. "R00t! Deal with that Sn–Aaaaaahhhh!”

R00t did as ordered, capping off the shooter wile he was repositioning, but it was too little, too late.

"Fey!" Angela and Liao cried as a spray of blood hit them both.

Fareeha wasn't sure where she'd been hit, only that she had dropped her rocket launcher and her jet boosters were failing her fast. She still held Liao in her other arm and Angela was still locked onto him. She made a last minute decision that they wouldn't go down with her. Liao must have sensed what she was thinking and shook his head violently.

"Ang!" She coughed through a mouthful of blood, as she tossed Liao to the doctor. Angela caught him, wrapping her arms around his waist and extending her wings to glide down.

With what little booster power she had left, Fareeha tried to position herself so she'd land somewhere behind cover. She was able to hover a few moments before her jets died and she careened towards the ground.

Gaz made a heroic effort to catch her but the ground was faster. Or rather...the water was. She landed in the pool with a splash, sinking wile her blood clouded the water. She squirmed and flailed to try and push herself to the surface. The Raptora suits were really not meant for swimming.

A pair of hands grabbed onto her good arm, pulling her upward. Fareeha kicked with all she had until her head met air again. Her helmet was knocked off in the fall. She got to the edge and flopped to the side, greedily gulping breaths of air. It was painful and she spit out more blood, now she realized that she was most likely hit in the chest and her right lung was punctured.

"Shhhhhh, stay calm." A soft, synthesized voice said. Fareeha felt a pinch in her neck as she was injected with something. She lurched back trying to get away from whoever had drugged her. A black mask greeted her. It's wearer was in a brown duster with a strange sniper rifle strapped across his back.

"Who?..." Fareeha croaked. 

This wasn't a Talon sniper, he wore no insignia. Then she remembered, Shrike, 76's new partner. She weakly grabbed hold of the sniper's arm to try and restrain him. She wasn't successful in doing so. The pain in her chest was less intense but she still felt consciousness slipping away.

She let go of the sniper's arm and slumped forward. 

"Stay awake!" Shrike demanded. With what seemed like genuine concern he cupped Fareeha's face in his hands. "Stay with me..." The voice was sad...nearly pleading. In her dazed state Fareeha learned into one of the palms, there was just something that was SO warm and comforting.

"Get back!" Liao's voice cut through her foggy haze. He was standing awkwardly on his injured leg, his eyes blazing with the Helix pulse rifle pointed at Shrike. The sniper had drawn a side arm and was aiming it at him. Fareeha could hear Shrike make a surprised gasp and he slowly backed away from her.

"Get out of the way, Li!" Angela snapped, trying to bypass Liao and go directly to Fareeha's side. Liao caught her wrist, stopping her from going any closer, not taking his eyes off of the other hunter.

"I said, BACK OFF!" He told Shrike. The sniper lowered his side arm and glanced over at Fareeha. "We'll take it from here, hunter...I'm giving you the chance to leave without a fight."

Shrike nodded slowly, still looking at Fareeha. With an almost reluctant turn, he ran off towards the wall. Liao kept the rifle trained on him until he was out of sight. Then released Angela to attend to Fareeha.

The doctor ran to her friend's side and bathed her in an aura of healing light. "I've got you!" Angela said, soothingly.

"Thank you." Fareeha murmured. She held her left arm out to Liao who limped over and took her hand. "Are the two of you all right?" She asked with a tired smile.

"You have a hole in your chest! And you want to know if we're okay?!" Angela snapped.

"Landing could have been smoother." Liao interrupted, smirking. He gave her hand a squeeze. "Ziegler used my body to cushion her fall."

"Oh mein got, Li! You know…I could have just dropped you.” Angela pointed out earning her an amused snort from Liao. 

The Helix ship finally circled back around. By then, the battle was over. Gaz hovered down and took them up individually. Angela treated everyone's injuries to the best of her ability but they would be needing further medical attention.

Fareeha got the worst of it, with a fractured right arm and a punctured lung. Saleh had minor rib fractures and burns. Liao needed more attention on his leg and his torn up clavicle.

Gaz, Ammit, and R00t were busy making a final sweep of the compound. Croft, thankfully had sent another squad to help once she was informed of Talon's numbers. The place was big, Talon could have all sorts of things here. 

"Keep still, Li." Angela ordered once they were safely in the air. "I'm not a miracle worker." She said, keeping a healing stream on Fareeha as he nervously bounced in his seat.

He shot her a glare. "Just keep up the heals Mercy." He huffed. "I'm not something you need to be worried about right now."

"She's going to be all right." Angela said reassuringly, despite Liao's tone with her.

"Angela is right. Don't you think it's about time you two buried the hatchet?" Fareeha sighed. "Just relax...we're all here and you even recovered the pulse rifle."

She watched him visibly settle at her words. However, his static betrayed him, still projecting a tense feeling within a short radius of him. Something more was bothering him.

"Is it because of Reaper?" Fareeha asked, shifting to look at him. "You know I won't let him get to you."

"I just...I felt something in that pool house." Liao murmured. "Something...familiar. I can't explain it."

"Familiar…how?” Fareeha had gotten the same feeling when Shrike spoke to her. What did this all mean? Liao didn't elaborate, only shrugged and went back to his twitchy posture.

The radio crackled suddenly, Gaz's voice coming through. "Captain you aren't going to believe this!" He said excitedly.

"What is it Lieutenant?" Fareeha couldn't help but be slightly annoyed at the interruption.

"This place is a bloody goldmine! Hard drives, weapons, stolen equipment...This was a hive if I ever saw one." Gaz replied.

"Make sure you lock everything down." This was big. Fareeha sat up but was quickly ushered back down by Angela."Good work team."

"Well...we did get shot out of the sky again." Saleh rasped. "Speaking of which, who's going to buy dinner like last time?"

Fareeha frowned. When she, Saleh, and Tariq fought the Anubis AI, she had treated the team to dinner. Saleh had been wounded on that opp as well, so he ordered extra dessert.

"I got this one." Liao chuckled. He patted the pulse rifle at his side. "It's payday."

Fareeha knew that Liao was pleased to get the gun back. She also knew he had to be a bit disappointed that he didn't get 76. But he was nowhere to be found when the team cleared the compound, he nor Shrike....and thankfully, nor Reaper ether.

"I'll hold you to that." Fareeha joked. "Didn't go disappearing on me."

Liao smiled at her and nodded. The tension from his field was diminishing. Fareeha smiled back and closed her eyes. For now at least, she could rest easy.

 

Helix Security, Infirmary

“Talon was making a move for Anubis then.” Croft said, her lips firmly in a frown.

“That's the logical conclusion.” Fareeha replied. She sat full upright in her infirmary bed. She was still in pain but Angela had been working her magic. “The plans that Gazim found, show that they were trying to find a way through our firewalls to wake the AI.

“How close did they get?” Croft inquired.

Fareeha cleared her throat. “Close, this particular hacker might have done it in a few more days.”

“Time to call tech-support, you're going to need better software.” Liao added, sounding somewhat annoyed. He was on the bed next to Fareeha's, very lounged out, his leg propped up. The white hospital gown that he was given looked weird on him. Fareeha could never recall a time that she'd seen him broken and laid up.

“Lotus is right.” Angela agreed. She stood between the two beds, one hand holding the Caduceus staff to Fareeha's shoulder. “Talon has itself a talented Hacker, you'll need to be ready for when they try again.”

Croft’s frown tightened. “And…your stance on joining Helix, Dr. Ziegler-“

“Is still no.” Angela said firmly. “I stopped working for International military organizations a long time ago.”

“I'd hoped you'd reconsider, Helix is a good company. We can protect you from whoever is hunting you.” Croft said. She sounded sincere enough but Angela shook her head. Croft sighed, “You can't just go back out there alone.”

“I can take care of myself…I've been doing it for years.” Angela said. “But it doesn't hurt to know the right people.”

“If that's the way things are going to be.” Croft sighed. She turned her attention back to Liao. “I'll want a full report on what happened in London.”

“You'll get it.” Liao assured her.

“Lotus, Captain Amari.” Croft said before she left.

As soon as Croft was gone, Angela turned to Liao and Fareeha. “Not sure I'm satisfied with your plan ether.” She murmured. Fareeha had planned to move Angela and Liao into the complex next to her.

“You just complain because we will be neighbors.” Liao huffed. “You would be better off with Tracer and Winston anyway.”

“That's enough!” Fareeha barked. “Joining the new Overwatch is illegal, no way around it. Both of you are avoiding it for DIFFERENT reasons but that is an important one. Also, importantly, I want to keep the two of you close.” She clutched her side with a wince. It hurt doing her Captain’s voice in her condition. “Reaper was at the compound. Reaper has been killing ex-Overwatch agents like both of you. Angela has had people try and kill her from the Hunter guild and recently all Lotus’s contacts are turning on him.”

“The Guild doesn't do work for Talon—” Liao argued.

“Things change, people betray one another, I doubt a group of mercenaries is any different.” Angela disagreed.

“You're suggesting that Talon has been using the guild to try and kill me? That doesn't make sense because the Talon agents were very surprised to see me in London…unless…” Liao paused thoughtfully. “No…that's not possible.”

“What's wrong?” Fareeha asked.

Liao shook his head. “I'm overthinking things, I've had a crazy week and I’m slipping. You're right, the guild must be comprised, it's what logically makes sense.”

“Don't lock me out, talk to me.” Fareeha frowned.

Liao's eyes twitched from Fareeha to Angela briefly. The message was clear that he didn't want to elaborate in front of the doctor. Fareeha still wasn't going to put up with their rivalry. She balled her hands into fists and placed them on her hips, narrowing her eyes. Liao grimaced but cleared his throat.

“All this started when I went after 76’s trail in Dorado. I had trouble sleeping so I spent all of my time poking around and chasing down leads. I talked with…less than savory people, but I payed them for silence. I didn't leave a trace except for my guild tracker, that might have been pinged by the local masters.”

“They could have put you on Talon’s radar.” Fareeha agreed, not feeling as if he was telling her everything.

“Dorado is the rumored base of operation for Sombra, Talon’s pet hacker I mentioned just a minute ago.” Angela added. “Das ist ein big problem.”

“We have to stick together now…we have to protect each other, TRUST each other.” Fareeha said sternly. “That means no more secrets.”

Liao and Angela exchanged looks, the didn't seem happy but they nodded in agreement with Fareeha. Their history was long and bitter, things would not be right between them in one day, but Fareeha Amari was what they had in common, they could coexist…for her. 

She was right, if they wanted to survive they would stay together. However, coming clean of all their dark secrets would be much harder…

 

 

 

Somewhere in Egypt…

The old Overwatch safe house was the last place Reaper wanted to be. He had already relived enough of his past for one day. But he needed a place to gather his strength. It had been a while since he'd been able to feed and he was feeling weak from his last fight.

He slithered around the air ducts looking for any sign of life that he would consume. He settled for a nest of rats that he found in the crawl space under the house. They weren't enough to make him combat ready, but at least now he could take physical form. This state was far from human, just a charred corpse with no distinctive features.

Once he had fingers again he got to work tearing apart the rest of the building. Most of the old safe houses had been stripped by former agents like himself, this one was no exception. He couldn't find anything that would be of use to him, only several expired cans of beans. He was so ravenous that he might have consumed them if they wouldn't have turned to ash in his mouth.

Miserably, he tossed the cans away and sank down to the carpet. He couldn't sleep in this state ether, he could only sit still wile his strength slowly returned. Time passed, and he wasn't sure if it had been hours or days but there came an inexplicable knock at the door.

Reaper rose from the floor and and lurched like a prowling cat. No one knew he was here. No one had any reason to come to the dilapidated old house. He wraiths to the door and looked out the peephole and saw nothing. Carefully, he twisted the knob and let the door slowly creak open. There was still nothing, until Reaper got a whiff of a familiar Spanish perfume. Before he could even say her name, Sombra, was already talking.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen." She said, coming out of cloak seated on the counter. "Nice place you've got here, amigo."

Anger boiled in his core, he didn't need the hacker's sass right now. "You really shouldn't be here, Sombra." He growled. "I haven't eaten in a while, and you know how I like Mexican food."

"Oooo scary." Sombra said rolling her eyes. "I thought about that, which is why I brought you a snack."

Reaper perked up as Sombra motioned for him to follow her outside. He was hesitant to leave in his vulnerable state but there was nothing around to see him. She clicked the button to open the trunk of her car and pathetic whimpering came out. There was a man tied up, wearing a standard Talon uniform.

"This is the one that lost us our operations in London." Sombra said with a sneer. "Lead those hunters right to the warehouse."

Reaper rumbled with displeasure, red eyes burning. The man let out a yelp.

"Wait sir!" He babbled. "Lotus! The hunter in blue, he's chief Liao!"

Reaper wrapped a clawed hand around the man's neck. "Oh, I'm aware." He hissed. Hoisting the man up he poured his smoke down his throat. The man began to deteriorate, making a strangled scream as Reaper drained him of his Life force. When he was done, all that was left of the Talon agent was a hallow husk.

With the new energy, Reaper's blackened flesh flaked away, becoming more like human skin before it was covered in a black trench coat. A bone white mask materialized over his face and he made a contented sigh.

"Awww, feeling better?" Sombra purred.

"...Did you know?" He asked, turning to her with an edge to his voice. "What am I saying, you probably set this whole thing up."

Sombra frowned. "The only thing I tried to set up was a meeting between you and your little girlfriend. Helix's new pet was suppose to die in London, the Boy Scout too. The Helix death squad showing up with Dr. Ziegler? Well that was unfortunate."

Reaper growled. "You underestimated the hunters. I was a sitting duck in there!"

"What? I thought you wanted to cross a few names off your list. Big bad Reaper couldn't handle a couple old men?" Sombra mocked.

With a menacing lunge he grabbed her wrist, twisted it and brought her closer to him. "You better watch what you say, Chica!"

Fear briefly flashed across Sombra's feathers before she nodded in compliance.

"Get me everything you have on the parties involved at the compound." He ordered, basically dragging her back into the safe house.

She did as he said, bringing up windows of Lotus, 76, Shrike, Helix, and Angela Ziegler. Files included hunter profiles.

\-------------------

WARNING: Hunter Currently Unavailable

Lotus 

Role(s): Defense, ( LOCKED )

Status: ( LOCKED )

Hp: 150

Over shields +50

Rep: The best offense is a good defense 

Equipment 

-Tripwires  
-Drop Shield  
-Disarm

\----------------------

 

76 

Role(s): Attack, Assault

Status: Orange

Hp: 200

Rep: Army of One

Equipment 

( LOOKED )

\----------------------

Shrike 

Role(s): Support, Sniper 

Status: Green 

Hp: 200

Rep: Quick, Quiet, Professional

Equipment 

-Sleep Darts  
-Biotic weapons  
-First Aid

\---------------------

"There's not a whole lot here." Sombra grumbled. She pulled up another window. This one had several pictures of Liao. None were current, they ranged from when he joined the stile team to his prison mugshot, no others could be found. "It looks like another hacker has been through here, nowhere near as good as me, but they've done a number on any information on Liao."

"He covered his tracks when he got out..." Reaper concluded. "Still can't be completely invisible though."

"Damn it! All the images I have of Lotus have this blurry static over them...they're not even altered! The photos just suck!" Sombra said. Pulling out a staticky photo of Lotus.

"Messing with the equipment so you can't be seen." Reaper chuckled darkly. "One of your oldest tricks, Li."

"Reaper?"

Without answering, Reaper ran a clawed hand over the image. "Where've you been old friend? I was worried about you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is an epilogue. It will tie more things together :-)
> 
> I'd just like to thank everyone for reading. I wasn't sure about writing and submitting before...but I'm glad that some of you enjoyed it. I plan to write more and hope to see you all soon.
> 
> Also, there's another writer on this site that I made friends with recently! Their name is thiefofbluefire, Go check out their work, they just wrote a short on Doomfist.


	12. Little has changed...now that's a lie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fareeha and her team take some time to relax and catch up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is! It's finally finished. Thanks to all of you for reading. :-)

"Damn!" Fareeha cursed wile struggling with a pant leg. She was being released from the ward today but she was having trouble dressing herself with one arm in a sling.

"Need help with zat?" Angela offered. Trying not to laugh.

"No, I've got it." Fareeha frowned, finally managing to pull on her boots.

"The rest of your team is waiting, we all thought you deserved a little celebration." Angela hummed, taking Fareeha by the hand and leading her out the door. "And Liao swears that he is going to take us all out."

The team wasn't meeting at the base, In fact Fareeha had the feeling that everyone was at her own apartment...she was right.

She walked in her door and was immediately greeted with confetti and clapping. She also noticed that the room was not so bare.

"All right, which one of you picked out the painting?" It was a beautiful abstract sea of colors but had the Egyptian gods, Horace and Ra posed at ether end.

"I did." Angela smiled. "This place needed some color."

"Something we actually agreed on." Liao said. The tension between them was still there, but for now at least they were playing nice. Liao handed Fareeha a plastic cup of punch. "Come on I made kebabs."

"I thought you were buying dinner." Fareeha said, raising an eyebrow. 

She took a sip of punch, it was really only lemonade with what must have been vodka, but it was referring.

"I did. I bought the meat and the vegetables." Liao said before smirking. "I stole everything else, if the museum calls about a missing painting...you know nothing about it."

"Stop with the fibs." Angela groaned, rolling her eyes. "What is even the point? We all know you're fibbing."

"Saying you found it at the market is just boring." Liao huffed. " Now everyone dig in...I see Ammit has already." Referring the the massive man who had a kebab in each hand.

"Lets eat!" Saleh said, moving over to the plate. The others followed suit, all except R00t of course.

"Fascinating how humans will still swarm over food." She remarked dryly.

Swarm they did. Most of them helped themselves to several portions. With all the eating, drinking and joking around, it was just a matter of time before Liao began telling stories. He hadn't completely come clean about who he was, but he had latched onto Fareeha's story about meeting him in the Army. The team had wised up to him being a veteran of the Omnic crisis, however.

"So once I actually had to siege a castle to rescue my friends." He said, slurring his words. Liao being a notorious lightweight. "A legit castle, with a mote and everything."

"Omnics held prisoners in castles? I'm not buying it." Tariq said as he sipped his punch.

"No not omnics, Burly Germans. And turned out they were only 'borrowing' our assault  
man and engineer. See they wanted to take back the castle...from omnics, so they took em."

"So what did you do?" R00t buzzed.

"I got my own burly German and we knocked down the gate and charged in...didn't get to far though, they had laser crossbows and superior numbers."

"And your friends?" Tariq laughed.

"Oh the fucking assault-man, being no help at all, perched himself on one of the walls and watched as I tried to talk my way out of the situation. The engineer just pointed and laughed."

"So...that was what, thirty years ago?" Gaz hummed thoughtfully.

"Just about...why?" Liao took another drink.

"It's just a long time...how OLD are you?" Gaz inquired.

It was Fareeha that answered. "Don't even bother, you'll never get a truthful answer." She shot a smirk at her uncle. Guessing his age had been a past time of the younger Overwatch agents. He never looked as old as he was, not even now. Liao never gave them the actual number.

Leaning back in his seat, Liao didn't let Fareeha's comment stop him. "I was once a part of a team of six, I was the youngest of the group. The oldest member is now in his sixties."

"Well that doesn't exactly narrow things down very well." Tariq frowned. "You looks like you could be forty..."

"Well aren't you sweet." Liao smiled, pretending to cover a blush.

"Oh come on!" Tariq protested.

"Hey I warned everyone." Fareeha said, smugly.

"Yeh, that reminds me of another story...." Liao grinned, rattling off another adventure from his youth.

Fareeha picked a moment to slip away to the roof. Her team was great, but she had been in the med bay all week and hadn't had a chance to check her mail.

It was warm and quiet outside. She could see the whole neighborhood from where she stood. In the later hours, there were few lights on so most of what she saw was silhouette. There she was once again, on top of a roof alone with her thoughts.

Despite everything that had happened at the compound, repossessing the pulse rifle, getting shot, and obtaining the Talon files, things hadn't changed much. Angela had moved herself into the nearby apartment, just close enough that Fareeha could keep an eye on her. Liao was just across the hall. He was back to his old self, he even managed to smooth things over with Croft. How he managed that was anyone's guess. 

He stuck around Fareeha's hospital room for most of her recovery. Fareeha had to admit that she felt a little smothered but was glad he was out of harm's way. She hoped that now that the rifle was recovered they could actually work together. 

But the world was still a mess. Angela and Liao were still in danger, Fareeha caught herself looking for Reaper in every corner. Widowmaker was still out there. Russia had gotten worse since the assassination of Mondatta. The tension in London was finally boiling over and fighting had broken out. A new Overwatch was forming as little more than a rag tag group of vigilantes. It would never be the same...

Talon had a hand in almost everything. As it turned out, the Talon agents in the compound were after the Anubis god program, still in containment. It was extremely lucky that Fareeha's team raided the compound when the did. If Talon got their claws on a god program...the consequences would be to horrific to imagine.

'There is no such thing as luck.' Was something Gabe and Jack had told Fareeha a long time ago. She felt her eyebrows furrow. There was that feeling of being set up again. Sombra could work them all like marionettes. Except this time, things turned out in her favor.

"Thought I would find you up here." Liao said from the stairwell. "Perfect place for a perch."

"I thought you were telling stories." Fareeha chuckled, hiding the fact that he had started her. "Won't they miss you?"

"Oh no, we switched gears to karaoke." Liao said. "Angela is distracting everyone with her angelic voice...I decided to make myself scarce before Saleh got a hold of the microphone."

"So you decided to hide up here with me?"

"...so you admit you're hiding." Liao said quietly. Fareeha turned away. "...if you need me, I'm here for you. Part of us all working together.”

Fareeha sighed, he was reading her like a book again, just like when she was a little girl.

"The world is changing again." She murmured. "I feel like I have to prepare for one hell of a fight, but I don't know where my enemies are...did...did you feel like this when the first crisis started?"

"...Yes, I felt that way...still do, actually." Liao hummed, approaching her side. "I had your mother and Gabe and the others to help me through it. I didn't have to fight alone."

"You miss them...don't you?" Fareeha whispered. Of COURSE he missed them. "I miss them too," He gave her a thoughtful look and didn't answer. "These days, I really miss my mother...she would know what to do."

"Ana always did." Liao agreed. "You do remind me of her..." he added. "Always taking care of your team, keeping them in check...pretty soon they'll start calling you mama bear."

"No." Fareeha snorted. "And if you suggest it to them, I might have to fly you to the top of a tall building and just leave you there."

A burst of laughter came from her uncle. "She use to threaten me like that too!" He sputtered. "Only she said she'd have Reinhardt punt me with his hammer."

"Fine. I'm glad I can be so amusing, uncle Li." She she, biting her lip to stop a chuckle.

"I always knew you were special." Liao said, still chuckling but more serious. "Smart, brave, powerful...and funny."

Fareeha chuckled. "You're something else."

"I mean it." He smiled. “Ask Angela, she's not as biased as I am." 

He lightly punched her shoulder and she punched him back. He winced still smiling.

“Are you two working things out? Finally talking and not arguing?” Fareeha asked, doubtful that things were that simple.

“…Ziegler and I have an understanding. No bullshit around Amari…and try to avoid pushing each other's buttons. That usually means just keeping our distance.”

"Well, so far you've been coexisting." She hummed. At least they weren't accusing each other of destroying Overwatch anymore. “Are you doing alright? I know you haven't been sleeping well.”

Liao shrugged. “Bad dreams, sore memories, the products of a long eventful life, I'm afraid.” He stuck his hands in his pants pockets and shook his head. “Sounds cheesy, but I decided to finally come and find you after one of them.”

“Stop fibbing.” Fareeha chuckled.

“It does sound like some lie I'd tell, doesn't it?” Liao hummed. “I was in Antarctica at the time, had my eyes opened so to speak. I sent a message to you afterwards…but I don't think it ever went through.”

“Antarctica? What on earth were you doing down there?” Fareeha asked. She knew by Liao's tone that he was being perfectly serious.

Liao paused and took a breath. “I was on a mission for the guild…well maybe that's a story for next time. What happened down there, I'm not sure I'm ready to talk about it yet.”

“…eye opening experience, huh?” Fareeha said softly. There were plenty of things she didn't feel ready to talk about yet but there was something she felt it was time to let go. "Could we...stay out here and talk just a little longer?" Fareeha asked. She still hadn't checked any of her letters. "Maybe tell me another funny story...with my mother in it."

Liao's smiled sadly. "As you wish." He held out his palm, cupping her face and wiping away a tear with his thumb, sliding it over her wedjat tattoo. "I remember your mother's was an eye of Ra..." he murmured.

"Mine is an eye of Horus. I got it to honor her..."

"It's a protector's mark." Liao said, thoughtfully. "Ra and Horus, the watchful Guardians of the sun and sky..." He cleared his throat, tapping his chin indicating that he was trying to think up a story about her mother.

Fareeha smiled and looked over the mail in her hands. A brown envelope with a slight weight to it caught her eye. What called her attention immediately was the hand written greeting in Arabic and no return address. The handwriting itself looked familiar as well. Fareeha raised an eyebrow and opened the envelope. When she did, a gold hair bead rolled out.

“What's that?” Liao asked.

Fareeha's hand shot to the right side of her hair. She wore beads just like it, she had ever since she was a little girl. She hastily pulled out the letter, dropping the rest of her mail as she read it.

—————————

 

My dearest Fareeha, 

Every mother hopes for a better life for her daughter. I was willing to fight and die for it. I taught you that there is nothing more important than protecting the ones you love. You grew up surrounded by heroes. They filled your head with stories of adventure and dreams of glory. One day you wanted to join them, but it was not the life I wanted for you.

I never told you of the weight I carried from all those I killed to keep everyone safe, but I always did what was asked of me, until one day I could not take the life I needed to. I hesitated, and everything changed. The people who I was supposed to protect died, and I was left behind, gravely wounded. The world believed that I was dead. I thought perhaps that was for the best.

I've lost so much in my life. I've said goodbye to so many friends. I've buried the ones closest to me. But for all that I have lost, I know that there are still people that need to be protected. So I cannot stop fighting, not yet. Not while there are people still waiting for me. One day, I hope you'll understand.

Your mother, 

Ana.

———————————

“No…” Fareeha murmured, her hand shaking. She didn't know what else to do so she passed the letter and bead to Liao and covered her mouth with her hand.

Liao looked over to the letter, his face full of concern. “Fey…I can't read Arabic without my visor…what’ wrong? What does it say?”

“It…it's from…my mother…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gasp! :-P
> 
> I bet everyone saw this coming. Well I'll probably continue with a new title in a few weeks. Maybe with more for Mercy to do next time. Right now I've just been uploading a few shorter stories that you might enjoy. Thanks again and I'll be back soon!

**Author's Note:**

> Liao is different from the one in cannon. I got inspired by a picture in the Recall short and ran with the idea. Plus the first strike comic never came out so whatever.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Lost Lions- A Tale of Two Brothers](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14852277) by [TidalLion](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TidalLion/pseuds/TidalLion)




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